Insane Asylum
by Hearts.Pocky
Summary: [RS] After Riku repeatedly gets into trouble at school, the principal forces him to work at an institution for mentally ill children. But Riku gets more than he expects when he begins to grow fond of his patient and mysterious things begin to happen.
1. Punishment

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Kingdom Hearts. It is owned by Square and Disney.

I don't know. I've had this idea for a long time and just decided to write it when I was bored, instead of dump it like my other ideas. I wasn't even going to post this, but myredraincoat read it and liked it, so this is for you then. And yes, this WILL be Shounen Ai.

_Insane Asylum  
chapter 1_

Riku sighed. He got into trouble at school and was seeing the principal for the fifth time. This week. It wasn't _his _fault he got into fights. It wasn't _his _fault that _he_ won all the time, making the other "tough guys" want to fight more. _He _didn't start the fights. Why was _he _blamed for it? No one really knows.

"Blah, blah, blah, blah, rotten kids, blah, fights, blah, blah, blah shouldn't have been a principal, blah..." The principal droned on and on. "Blah, blah, blah" That's all Riku heard.

"And as punishment...you will be working at the local mental hospital until further notice.." That caught Riku's attention.

"WHAT!" The principal smirked evilly and continued. "That means every day after school, even on the weekends. ...Starting today."

"But you can't do THAT! My parents won't--" Riku argued.

"I discussed it with your parents already. They feel that it may be a good idea."

"Y-you've got to be kidding me."

"You start today at 4:00. Right after detention."

"Detention! Again!"

"Every day after today, be there by 3:30. At the latest."

_Shit_, Riku thought, sliding back in the chair,_ I get spend everyday with mentally retarded kids. This should be...fun. Fun my ass._

"...and you'll leave every night at around 8:45 to 9:00."

Riku tried arguing again "Look, this is stupid," the boy tried to remain calm and not react and only make the evil principal proud of himself "How 'bout until...maybe...5:00?" Maybe if he started small, Riku could smooth-talk his way out of this whole thing. Like always.

"Your parents set up the times, not me." Said Mr. Evil Principal, trying to act sympathetic, but clearly couldn't be happier. Yes, revenge was sweet. Riku glared, but decided to just leave and go straight to detention. School was over in two minutes anyway. Yes, Mr. Evil Principal WAS talking for that long.

"...And don't worry," the principal continued, trying to catch Riku's attention before he left the room "they're crazy...not homicidal."

---

Detention lasted almost longer than the principal's lecture. Finally, the clock struck 4:00, and Riku was free. ...Almost. He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket revealing the address of the...asylum. Riku growled angrily and kicked at the ground.

"Hey Riku" A voice called. Riku looked up, not at all liking what he saw.

Riku snorted "What do _you_ want, Nero? ..Kai?"

"We heard that you're working at the mental hospital. Shouldn't you be a PAITIENT there?"

Riku glared at Nero "Well, I _wouldn't _be forced to work there if it weren't for YOU." He and his close friend (maybe a little _too_ close? ...) Kai, just laughed. Evilly. Muahaha. Riku rolled his eyes and left. Riku cursed to himself, it was all their fault that he was ever in trouble. They've hated each other since first grade, when they first met. Nero and Kai always picked on Riku, and got into fights with him and got him in trouble. _Stupid Nero,_ he thought, _stupid Kai. I hope that they both die. Those __stupid__evil, bastards._

---

Luckily for Riku (or really not so lucky) the insane asylum was built close enough to the school to walk to. Riku would have been screwed if he didn't live in a small enough city where you could just walk to anywhere you need to be, seeing as he was 15, not old enough to drive, and his parents were always at work, so they were unable to drive him anywhere. He hardly ever got to see them anymore, actually, Riku began to believe his parents were _trying_ to avoid him.

Who's _stupid _idea was it to built an insane asylum so close to a freaking SCHOOL, Riku practically screamed to himself. He kicked at the ground and glared at the people around him, freaking them all out. Riku was VERY scary when angry. Oh yes he was!

Eventually, the 15 year old made it to the...asylum. He walked through the doors to be greeted by a young woman in a white, almost nurse uniform. She shook his hand. "You must be..." she glanced at the clipboard she was holding. "Riku?"

"Yeah."

She smiled. "I'm Aeris." Aeris vaguely signaled behind herself. "Follow me." Riku obeyed. "So I understand that you'll be working for a while?" Riku nodded. "Alright. I'll assign you a child who has been needing...extra help."

"What's _that _supposed to mean?" Riku asked, slightly nervous.

"...nothing..."

"Right..."

"He just probably needs someone to be with. He's the most sane of pretty much everyone

else here." Riku nodded, trying not to space out. That was another reason he was always in trouble. She continued "...He is also very...sensitive, so be kind with him. Okay?"

"Uh huh..." Riku grumbled. He could've thought of a million other places he'd rather be.

After passing many rooms with padded walls, they stopped. In case you're wondering (I don't know **why** you would be, but just go along with it) , they found patients painting on the walls, throwing their meals around, trying to climb the hangs lamps, hiding in their beds frightened, and one that Riku found amusing...a boy. In a dress. And jeans. And socks hanging over his ears.

Aeris opened the door leading into the room of his new...patient. That sounded weird to Riku. Patient?

"...Meet Sora."

---

_author's note: The patients Riku see before meeting Sora are "explained" in chapter 5. _


	2. Meeting Sora

_Insane Asylum  
chapter 2_

"...Meet Sora." 

He, along with Aeris stepped into the room. Riku only stared at this boy, Sora. He didn't _look_ insane. Riku looked closer. He was in a bright red jumpsuit and a weird short sleeved white and gray sweater. On his hands were white fingerless gloves and on his feet were very large, very yellow shoes. Well, on second thought, he _did_ look insane.

"Well..." Started Aeris as she walked out "Have fun..."

"..." Riku walked over to the small bed the Sora was currently sitting on.

"Hello, Riku," He said solemnly, with out looking up. He was playing with his fingers and fiddling with his gloves.

"Hey..." Riku said, sitting down next to Sora. How was he supposed to take care of some kid he knew nothing about? He didn't know WHY Sora was here, he didn't know ANYTHING. A few minutes of silence passed. Riku looked up at the clock, 3:43. No, 3:44. A moment later Sora looked up at Riku and stared. And stared. And stared. And stared. And Riku began to lose his patience. And Sora stared. And kept staring.

"What is it already!" He snapped. Sora stared. But his expression completely changed, before, somehow it seemed like a mix of fascination and awe and it changed to hurt and even fear. Riku put his hand on the younger boy's shoulder and quickly added, "Hey, it's okay! It's okay! Sorry, kay?" Sora looked up, smiled and threw his arms around the silver haired boy's neck.

"Riku likes me again!" Needless to say, at this point, Riku was a bit more than freaked out. He pulled away. A few more minutes passed , Riku looked around, the room was fairly big. A bathroom, a bath instead of a cramped up shower like the other patients seemed to have had and...a table. A glorious table. Which was...white. Everything was...white. It was terribly blinding. (And white.) 

_I guess I should just start on homework_, Riku thought, rolling his eyes. He got his backpack and set his things up on the table. Riku stared at it, not actually bothering to do anything. He glanced back at Sora, who was staring at him wide-eyed.

"What?" The older boy asked, Sora looked away. Riku actually started his homework. ...Sora started screaming.

"What the hell?" Riku shouted, freaking out, which was odd for him. He watched Sora keep on screaming and ranting abut something he couldn't quite catch, and as the younger boy buried his face in the covers, still screaming and began to cry. Riku reached the door and shouted for Aeris' help. What was _he _supposed to do? He had no clue what was wrong with Sora! When someone finally came in, it wasn't Aeris, it was another, younger girl, reddish-brown hair and purplish eyes, and wearing the same uniform.

"Sora!" She ran toward Sora and put her arms around him. "What happened?" She asked Riku.

"I don't know!" Riku said "He just started screaming!" But she didn't listen, she just worked on helping Sora. "It's okay..." She said quietly. "It's all going to be okay." Pretty soon Sora quit screaming and his crying silenced. He was still breathing hard and unevenly as he laid back down on his bed, tears still streaming down his face. "Are you okay?" She asked. Sora nodded.

"I'm.. okay..." 

"You sure?"

Sora nodded again. "I saw it... again..."

The girl frowned. "It's not real, Sora! You're hallucinating. That's all it really is." The boy scowled and shook his head. Riku decided just to stay out of this.

She continued , "You know...they're trying to get some kind of medication to make this...thing stop happening. They're close to getting it. Just wait, okay?" Sora nodded and said nothing. "Great, I'm going now. I was working with another patient and have to go back." She looked up at Riku, who was continuing with his homework. "You're Riku, right?" Now her voice seemed very different. It wasn't so soft and baby-ish anymore. The older boy didn't look up. "Mm hm." Was his reply. Then he looked up.

"I'm Kairi." Said the girl. "I've been working here with Sora for a while." She paused. "Did they even tell you what's wrong with him?"

"No." Riku shrugged.

"Aww maaan." Kairi whined. "Now _I _have to explain it." Riku rolled his eyes.

"Just tell me already." 

Kairi turned to look at Sora, "You don't care if I tell him, do you?" She asked, voice soft again.

Sora shrugged. "Alright. So...when Sora was really little he would see...things. You see... he never told exactly what they were but... I don't know. He saw things. He would just randomly start screaming, like he did just now. His parents finally turned him over to us when he just turned eight. He still sees things, obviously," she changed back to her soft, babyish voice again when she turned to Sora and said "But he's gotten SO much better!" Sora smiled and looked down at the ground.

"I really, really have to go now. But I'll be back, okay?" _Baby voice_, Riku thought to himself, _talking to Sora, then.. not_ _that I matter anyway._ He rolled his eyes and just got back to his homework.

This was all just too weird. Riku looked at the clock, 4:28. _Only _4:28. Riku felt like screaming.

Somehow, he felt like this was all Nero and Kai's fault. The three boys had been at "war" for the longest time. They'd been in classes together for...how many years was it? Since, fourth grade about. That year Nero thought it would be very funny to stick the class lizard into Riku's hair. For Riku, no, it wasn't funny at all. (And of course Kai was behind Nero all the way. They were always best friends. Always would be.) Thus started the Riku vs. Nero and Kai war.

Riku, too caught up in his thoughts to take notice to much else, didn't feel Sora standing over him. That is, until Sora took a seat next to him and wrapped his arms around the older boy's waist.

"I missed you..." He said quietly, now resting his head on Riku's shoulder.

"..._What?..._" Was Riku's confused reply. 

Sora didn't say anything else for at least the next 45 minutes.

A while later, Riku finished his homework. 5: 37. Sora stayed completely unmoving on his bed. He had moved back only a few minutes ago. Riku stuffed all of his thing into his backpack and leaned back in the chair.

_...What am I supposed to do now?_, He wondered. Riku put his backpack up on the table and dug through it. There had to be something there that would keep him from dying of sheer boredom.

The only things he had were a reading book, a sketchbook, a walkman and two CDs. Riku grinned. He was always able to sneak electronics into school, no one ever really cared that much. (Except for Nero and Kai, who always wanted to get him into trouble, but that's a different story.) Riku would be able to last on what he had. But for around four hours? And what if Sora freaked out again? What would he do then? Sighing, Riku got a CD, pressed "play" and drew in his sketchbook. And Sora got up and sat obediently by the older boy's side. 


	3. End of the First Day

Insane Asylum  
chapter 3

**Notes**: Wow. I started about... a page of this like, last year and just finally got back to it. I hope no one's given up on it. A big thanks to those who haven't.  
And sorry's the chapter is so short. The rest will be longer.  
Please note Sora's love of soup.  
**Other, other notes**: Try to find the 'Scrubs' references in here.  
No, really.

--

Four more hours to go. Two hundred forty minutes. A million years. Poor Riku could hardly concentrate on anything with the blaring music from his headphones and Sora just...staring at him like that. Would Sora stare at him like this _every_ day, Riku wondered. He took off his headphones and set his walkman aside. He let out a long, loud sigh and Sora did the same. Riku looked at Sora and Sora looked at Riku. Sora grinned, and Riku turned away. Now that Riku was finished with homework...what else was he going to do? Riku wanted to cry. Or, no, not cry...scream. Scream. He wanted to scream in frustration. There was nothing to do.

"How am I supposed to take care of you, Sora?" He muttered. Sora perked up at the sound of his name and smiled.

"Can I see?" Asked Sora, pointing to Riku's sketchbook.

"Oh, sure." Riku passed the sketchbook to Sora "Be careful with it." Riku watched as Sora opened the book and looked through the pages smiling. "You're good..." Riku shrugged. Suddenly Sora looked excited.

"I'm wanna show you something!" He ran of to his bed and reached under it, pulling out three plushies. "See?" He pointed to one of them. "That one's you." And indeed it was. The details were nearly exact, the only difference were the clothes. The second one was some sort of dog..._thing_ and the last was a duck.

"I didn't have time to make the last ones..." The younger boy started.

"Nice." Replied Riku, slowly taking the plush doll of himself and examining it. "When'd you make 'em?"

Sora began smiling again, "Oh, a few years ago." Riku blinked._ Creepy..._, he thought to himself.

Sora got excited. "You like them?" He asked.

"Sure." Riku replied, poking at the plushie. It was so...identical to him. How did he do it, Riku wondered, He's not serious...There's no way he could have done it so long ago.

They didn't even know each other for a full day. Speaking of which...Riku turned to look at the clock. Unfortunately, he turned so fast he hit Sora in the face with his hair. Even more unfortunately, it was only 6 o'clock.

"You've got to be kidding me." Riku muttered to himself.

"Riku's not happy?" Sora said, as if he were asking it.

No, Riku was not happy. In reality, Riku was feeling very annoyed, and very irritable. He wondered how this Sora kid didn't notice.

Of course, he _was_... "I want Riku to be happy." He said, nodding his head. Riku, however, wasn't paying attention at this point. Now, his thoughts were focused on how to get back at Nero and Kai without getting himself into more trouble.

"Hmm..." He hummed, with a sigh.

"What are you thinking about?" Sora asked.

"Nothing you'd understand." Riku said, and then winced. Was that incredibly rude? He didn't mean it that way.

"Oh... okay. I get it." The younger boy muttered. Riku knew he should say something, right then. But he didn't know what.

"Banana boat." He said, so suddenly and loudly he made his 'patient' jump.

"What?" Sora asked. "What? What?"

"I don't know." Riku said. _This is nuts_, Riku thought, _this place...these people... they're all rubbing off on me and it's only been one day_. Sora giggled.

"I think you're the crazy one, Ri-ku."

"No, not crazy." Riku said. "Just very strange."

"Is strange a good thing?"

"It can be."

"Do you hate me?" Sora asked, straying off topic. His eyes got all wide and watery._ Oh god..._, Riku thought.

"No... I don't hate you. I've known you for less than a day. I nothing you."

"Oh. That's... special." Sora replied, obviously very confused.

"It is." Riku said with a nod. "It is." Sora smiled and bounced over to his bed. Riku couldn't help but smile. _Good,_ he thought. _He won't cry again tonight,_ _probably. And,_ he smiled to himself, _I probably only have a little while to go before I can go home._

He looked up at the clock.

6:15

And gaped. _Okay,_ he thought, _okay. I can make it through this. Just three hours. That's all..._ He looked over at Sora, who was staring down at his feet, and winced when he heard the door unlocking. Riku looked over at the door. The door opened to reveal Aeris. "Hello Sora, Riku." She said. She was holding a small bottle in her hands.

"This is Sora's medication. He always has to take it at 6:15. It gets him through the night." She smiled, but Sora didn't. He mumbled something under his breath. "Come on, Sora." She said, walking over. She opened the bottle and poured out a few pills. "Sora, come on. Don't make this difficult." She was very patient, and spoke quietly. Sora pouted, but took the pills and swallowed them. He winced and gagged. Aeris smiled, patted him on the head, and left.

"These are disgusting." The younger boy said, still gagging. "They're like... like..."

"Like Satan in a capsule." Riku said.

"Yeah." Sora said with a smile. "Yeah. Like that." He giggled at that.

6:20

"By the way," Came Aeris' steady voice from the doorway. "I forgot to mention that everyone eats at 7." She closed the door again and left.

"I'm hungry _now._"Sora whimpered. Riku sat down next to the younger boy on his bed.

"Hey, 7 isn't that far away. It's only... 6:22."

Sora whimpered some more.

--

The rest of the half an hour (give or take a few minutes) until dinner lasted an eternity: complete with awkward silences.

At exactly seven o'clock Sora gladly showed Riku the way to the glorious, food-filled cafeteria. (AKA: the crapperteria, to Riku at least.) The room was somewhat small, and there weren't tons of other kids, but they all had chaperones. One or two looked to be about Riku's age.

"Soup." Sora said, grabbing Riku's shirt.

"What?"

"Soup. Soup." He sounded a little irritated. "Soooooup. Right over there." He began to drag poor Riku over to where they could get some nice, watery, soupy... _soup_.

Sora got himself some nice, watery, soupy soup (he was allowed to get his own food because he was one of the... _healthier_ patients) and sat down at a table, a special table where the other kids "like him" sat.

"Aren't you going to get anything, Riku?" He asked. Riku looked down at the disgusting, repulsive, watery, soupy soup.

"I don't know if it's safe." Riku said, slowly. Still staring down at the soup. Was it... _alive_? It seemed so.

"It's safe! It's fine, it's good!" He proved it by taking a big spoonful and trying to get it in his mouth... but failed. His elbow banged on the table and the soupy soup landed on his lap. Sora looked a little hurt by that. He got another spoonful. This one successfully made it in his mouth. "See? See?" Riku noticed how adorable the younger boy was, his eyes wide and a grin plastered on his face. And he was so... naive.

Riku eventually got himself something, too. He stuck with the safest thing, something that you would have to be very, very talented to mess up: salad.

"Is that all you want Riku?" Sora asked.

"Yeah. I'm not too hungry."

"You sure?"

"Yep."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"You sure?"

"YES I AM SURE."

Sora shrugged and went back to his nice, watery, soupy soup. "Mmmm." He said.

"Sora!"

"Sorry..."

-

After dinner, as Riku was taking Sora back to his 'cell', Kairi stopped him.

"Kairi!" Sora said. "You weren't there at dinner today."

"I went out to get something." Kairi replied with a smile.

"But Riku, you should read this. Aeris wanted me to give it to you." The girl said, turning her focus back to Riku. She handed him a small pamphlet.

"Okay." Riku said, taking it from her grasp.

"Let's go, Riku." Sora said, tugging at Riku's hair.

"Okay, fine."

They made it to the end of the hall where Sora's room was. Sora rushed in and sat on his bed.

It was 8:30.

Halleluiah, Riku cheered in his head. He had manage to survive so far. WITHOUT losing his mind.

Personal victory.

He looked over at Sora, who was smiling up at him.

"What do you want to do, Riku?" He asked. But Riku didn't answer. He was doing a little victory dance in his mind. "What are you thinking about, Riku?"

"Absolutely nothing." Riku said with a smile.

He was almost free.

--

The thirty minutes passed very quickly.

"It's nine." Sora said idly.

"It is?" Riku said. "Great!"  
Aeris opened the door and walked in. "9'o clock." She said. "Riku, time to go home." Sora blinked and cocked his head to one side.

"What?" He asked. "Riku has to leave now?"

"I only have to stay 'til nine." The older boy said with a shrug, turning to leave. Sora grabbed onto his shirt.

"Don't leave!"

"Sora--"

"DON'T LEAVE!"

"Sora," Aeris cut in.

"No!" He threw his arms around the older boy. "Don't go, don't go. Please, please, please. Don't. Go!"

"Sora!" Riku tried to make his voice audible over Sora's shouting. "I'm coming back tomorrow!" Sora stopped yelling for a minute to breathe. "I'm coming tomorrow, I'll see you then. Okay?"

"You promise you're coming back?"

"Of course!" Not like I have a choice, Riku wanted to say, but didn't. "I promise."

"I'll see you then...?"

"Yeah. You will."

Sora calmed down almost completely.

"O-okay." He said. "Bye-bye, Riku."

"Bye, Sora." Riku said, walking out the door.

"You handled that well." Aeris said as she locked the door to Sora's room.

"I guess so." Riku replied, shrugging.

"Bye."

"See ya."

--

When Riku got back to his house he spotted a note at the door.

Riku,

We're working late tonight. We'll be gone until 11.

-Mom and Dad

What else was new? They were always working. Riku crumpled the note and went inside. He headed straight into the kitchen and searched through the pantries. He saw about six cans of soup, and instantly thought of Sora. He shook his head and continued his food hunt. He ended up with some cheesy snacks and a soda from the fridge. He rushed to his room and collapsed on the bed.

"Dear _god_." He said, putting his hands on his face.

--

Two hours later his parents came home.

"We're home!" His mom called.

"I figured!" Riku called back.

"How was it?" 'It' meant the crazy house, Riku figured.

"Horrible- but I'm okay."

He could hear his mom laughing in the other room, and that annoyed him. He was about to shout something at her, but decided against it. Maybe he could get his parents to cancel that punishment...

He figured he could work on that the next day. Don't talk back, steer clear from Nero and Kai at school. It couldn't be that hard.

Riku closed his eyes and smirked. That would be easy.

An hour or so later he tried to get to sleep. He tossed and turned but couldn't get to sleep.

He just couldn't stop thinking of Sora.


	4. The Second Day

Author's note: Geez, I haven't updated this in forEVER. Sorry about that. And about the ending-- I'm not preaching, and I'm not trying to subliminally show my views through this.

Really.

_Insane Asylum  
chapter 3_

Riku woke up early the next morning. He looked over at the clock-which read 6:50- and tried to go back to sleep.

Fifteen minutes later, after a lot of sleep-related failure, he decided to just get up and get ready for school.

"I'm going." He called, as he walked out the door.

Well, at least if he was early he could avoid Nero and Kai.

_Right_, Riku thought to himself, _positive. Stay positive._

He arrived at school shortly: about fifteen minutes later. It would be the first time in a long, long time he was actually _early_ for school. Or on time, for that matter. He had _never_ been early.

Another personal victory.

He looked around the school carefully, scanning for his arch enemies, and snuck to his locker with amazing stealth. Not unlike a ninja. He carefully twisted the lock and put his things in his locker. He sneaked to his first class of the day and put his things on his desk.

"Riku? You're early." His teacher said. "I'm amazed."

"Yep." Riku replied absently, resting his hand on a desk. He felt sticky all of the sudden. He looked down at... gum. He sighed and left to go to the bathroom. Somehow Nero and Kai were behind this, Riku concluded. He didn't know how, but he _knew _those two were responsible for everything bad in his life.

He made his way into the bathroom and rushed to the sink, turning on the water and pouring soap on his hands.

"Hey, Riku." Wait... Riku knew that voice.

_Nero._

"Hey, Nero." He said through clenched teeth. He had to remind himself not to say or do anything that could get him in trouble.

"How's the loony bin? And your freak friend there?" Something about that bothered Riku: Nero was calling Sora a freak.

_Wait, _Riku asked himself, _why should I care? _The younger boy's face suddenly appeared in his mind.   
"_Don't go, Riku!"_ Riku didn't even realize the bell was ringing.

"_Please, please don't go!"_

A few moments passed before Riku noticed he was late.

Again.

"I can't win!" He shouted, rushing to class.

---

"How can you be early to school and _still_ be late to class?" Riku's teacher, Mr. Morry asked, the minute the silver haired boy walked in.

"I didn't hear the bell." Riku said lamely.

Well, it was the _truth._

"That's a detention. Report here after school." Mr. Morry said, all-too-happily. It was all a conspiracy as far as Riku was concerned. Just make Riku as miserable as possible. How fun for the school staff it must be!

"I can't go." Riku said. "I have to work after school."

"Oh, of course." Mr. Morry said. "The insane asylum, right?"

"Riku's crazy!" Nero shouted.

The class broke into hysterics.

"Yes." Riku said between clenched teeth. "The insane asylum."

"Then I'll see you during lunch."

"Yes sir," Riku said, not thinking about his plan to avoid getting in trouble, "There is no other way I could POSSIBLY _EVER _want to spend my lunch than with you." You balding idiot, Riku wanted to add.

"And I'll see you tomorrow at lunch, if you like spending time in here so much."

Riku said nothing. Defeated, he went and sat down.

Class just seemed to drone on that day.

-  
Eventually lunch came. Riku went to buy something from the crapperteria and went back to his math class for detention.

"You're on time." Mr. Morry said. "I'm a bit surprised you didn't conveniently 'forget.'"  
Riku kept his mouth shut. Soon, he sat down and began to eat. He poked his finger in the soupy substance.

Riku sighed and wondered what Sora was up to about now.

He then realized he would never be able to eat soup again without thinking of the younger boy.

Damn.

"Riku." Mr. Morry said. "Riku." the boy didn't hear- he was too caught up in thinking of Sora. "RIKU!"

"What!" Riku shouted.

"Lunch ended 3 minutes ago."

"...Shit."

--

Okay, so school hadn't gone too well, Riku thought to himself, but now at least I can go home and... Well, okay... I can't just go home.

He sighed.

Tomorrow, he assured himself, tomorrow will be my day.

It didn't take him long to get to the 'asylum'. About fifteen minutes after he left school he made it in, greeted Aeris, walked down the hall, greeted Kairi, unlocked the door to Sora's room and went in.

Sora was sitting on his bed, curled up in a little ball.

"Hi Sora." Riku said, putting his backpack down at the foot of the bed.

"Riku!" Sora shouted, getting up and jumping on the older boy.

"Woah!" Riku yelped as he crashed down to the ground. Sora was still clinging onto him. "Sora... cut it out."

"Oh, Riku... you came back..." The younger boy rubbed his face in Riku' shoulder. "You came back!"

I don't have a choice, Riku thought to himself.

"I didn't think you'd show up." Sora squeaked.

"Why wouldn't I?"

There was an awkward pause.

"I just thought... you didn't like me. You'd leave and I wouldn't see you again. How was your day?"  
The sudden change of the younger boy's tone-and subject- took Riku by surprise.

"Um..."

"Not good?"

"No. Not good." Riku went over to Sora's bed and collapsed.

Falling on the bed was like falling on a brick. "OW. Urghh." Riku rubbed the back of his head, frustrated.

"Are you okay?" Sora asked. Well, that's what the older boy thought he said. Sora's hand was covering his mouth, and it was very difficult to understand what he was saying.

"What do they stuff these mattresses with? Cinder blocks or something?"

"Well...it wouldn't surprise me." Sora said, shrugging.

"How do you _sleep_?" Riku asked, still rubbing his head.

"I got used to it, I guess..." For just a brief moment, Riku thought he saw a hint of sadness come over his patient's face. "But I'm _sleeping, _I can't feel it then." Sora chuckled.

There was silence for a moment.

"Do you have a lot of homework again?" He asked.

"Oh... yeah. Kind of." It occurred to Riku that Sora always changed the subject once he began talking about himself, or the asylum.

"You should start working on it then."

Riku twitched. Sora was _not_ his mother. However, he decided not to blow up at Sora, just to save his ears from the screaming from the younger boy that _would_ follow.

"I think I will." Riku replied instead. (And he did.)

-

As he was finishing up his homework, Riku felt Sora staring at him again.

Riku did not want to have to get used to this.

"Don't stare at me." He said, without even looking up. Sora didn't listen; he just kept on staring.

"You're pretty." The younger boy said. This made Riku look up.

"...So are you..." He answered, feeling suddenly very odd.

"I'm a boy- I'm not _pretty._" Okay, so that was the wrong answer... now Sora was offended. ...Waitaminute. If boys weren't "pretty" what was Riku? ...A troll?

This whole conversation was just getting weirder and weirder.

"Let's play a game." Riku said, glad to change the subject.

"Play what, Riku?" Sora asked., cocking his head to the side.

"The Quiet Game."

Sora got the hint.

-

For the next few hours Riku was able to do his homework in silence. Sora, a bit upset at his 'friend', had gone to sleep.

Riku felt around in his backpack for something to do. Maybe he'd find something to read, or his sketchbook.

But...

Nothing.

As a last resort, Riku began to read through the pamphlet Kairi had given him the day before.

It was very basic, but at least gave Riku the idea of what kind of place he was in.

So, from what Riku gathered from the pamphlet:

The asylum handled every type of person- from anorexics to schizophrenics, dealing as both an asylum and a rehab center.

How cheap.

There were top notch doctors dealing medications, and only as needed.

There were many workers, who each made sure that no one was being abused; my that be by staff, or by "fellow occupants".

And then about fifteen paragraphs of blah, sprinkled with the words "respect", "family" and "healthy values".   
Whatever that meant.

"Riku? Are we still playing?" Asked Sora.

"Yes."

"..."

--

"Hey, Riku?" Sora said later. "I'm sorry you have to be here."

"Huh?" Riku look up and stared at the younger boy for a long time. _What is he apologizing for?_

"I know you'd rather be outside, with your friends... but you're stuck here with me."

They stayed there looking at each other for a long time, but never speaking. There was this genuine look of sadness on Sora's face; one that made Riku realize, for the first time, that these weren't just some loonies in confinement. They, Sora, were... real people.


	5. End of the First week

Author's note:Well, this was a fairly easy chapter to get through. I did it a little differently; instead of the chapter lasting one day, it lasted a week or so. It's six pages, a bit longer than normal and, hopefully, they'll keep getting longer. I went a little in depth (hint: "a little") about the other patients (as described in chapter 1.) It helps Riku to see the patients as people more and more. Fun, fun.  
(And if Tami3 is still reading this, I hope it clears upone of the things you pointed out to me.)

_Insane Asylum  
__chapter 5_

After a while, Sora was just himself again; if not a little... jumpier and a bit... twitchier. However, after he got his medication, he seemed a bit less... _edgy._

So, Sora was currently sleeping on Riku's lap as the older boy did homework. Oddly, Riku didn't mind. He began to run his fingers through the younger boy's hair.

"Lower." Said Sora, without opening his eyes. Riku jumped, but began to stroke the back of Sora's neck. The boy smiled, and Riku smiled.

After his discovery a few hours earlier, Riku realized that it might not be so bad working at the asylum after all. Working with this genuine person.

--

All that day, Sora seemed a bit out of it; even if he wasn't jumpy or twitchy.

"Are you okay?" Riku asked, eventually.

"I feel weird." Replied the boy.

And that was the end of that conversation.

At four, Sora had another panic attack. After watching Kairi that one time, Riku had somewhat of an idea of what to do. He spoke softly, telling the boy not to cry, and held him close. He called in someone who he thought could help, but there was really nothing anyone could do.

Later, just before dinner, Kairi came in.

"We're going to change Sora's meds." She said. "He shouldn't still be having panic attacks. He should have gotten a bit better." Sora opened his mouth to protest, but Kairi kept talking. "I mean, he's a lot better than when he first got here. He's been getting better. But..." He paused, thinking of what to say next. "We were hoping he'd be a little better than he is now." At this point, the boy went back over to sit on his bed. Kairi lowered her voice. "I really like Sora." She said. "I think he's really sweet. I wish he would just be okay, and maybe..." She sighed. "Dinner in seven minutes." She said, now talking to Sora, and smiling.  
She left.

And for some reason, hearing the girl say those things about Sora, made Riku feel... jealous?

Riku shook his head. No, he couldn't be jealous.

That would just be stupid.

--

Seven minutes later, Riku and Sora headed to the food area. Riku let Sora go to pick up his dinner, and they sat down at the same table as they did the day before.

"No soup?" Riku asked, amused.

"None today." Sora said. Riku propped his head on his hands, elbows on the table, and closed his eyes. "You aren't going to eat anything?"

Riku shook his head.

"I'm fine."

"You sure?"  
"A OK."  
Riku opened his eyes again and looked around. The guy in a dress from the other day was there. In the dress.

"Um, Sora?" Riku asked. He motioned toward that other boy with his shoulder. "What's up with..."

Sora looked over. "Him?" Riku nodded. The younger boy shrugged. "I don't know exactly what he's in here for. I know he can be a little hyper sometimes. The whole dress thing? He says it started ever since his sister died... but that's not true. He wears a red armband around his wrist for his sister, but the dress is really for attention."

"And the socks on his ears?"

"He likes making people laugh and freak out I guess." He muttered, "If that's not enough reason for being here." He shook his head and continued eating.

Riku hadn't ever seen Sora act that way. He seemed a bit... annoyed.

He then figured that it would be fun seeing the different sides of his patient.

--

After watching dress boy for a while, Riku began to think of the other... strange (to say the least) people he had seen his first day.

"What about the kids hanging from the lamps?"

Sora chuckled.

"All of the rooms used to have hanging lamps," He explained. "And we hated it. It was kind of a joke to try to jump up and pull them down. Some of them were replaced with big shiny ones built unto the ceiling. Not all of them."

"Why not all of them if someone's probably going to kill themselves with it?"

Sora shrugged.

"No money."

Riku nodded.

"And the people painting?"

"It's a stress thing. Some people are allowed to paint things, or throw something messy on the walls," which explained the food, "so they don't feel mad anymore. I'm not allowed to paint because I painted 'inappropriate' things." Sora shrugged again. It was weird for Riku, to see Sora like this. He seemed more serious, more mature. But there was still something in his voice, something that still made him seem childish.

"Okay," Riku said. "Last one. The kids hiding under the beds."

"People have episodes." Sora replied, simply.

Riku was about to joke about that. Say something like... _Oh, like you? _but, for once, he held his tongue.

--

The two boys' goodbyes were a bit calmer that day.

"I'll see you tomorrow." Said Riku, and he absent mindedly walking toward the door.

"You better." Sora warned.

--

The next two days weren't too hard. Sora's medications were getting changed, so he was very drained and didn't have any fits.

And, slowly, Sora began to trust Riku when he said he'd come back.

Riku always _did _come back.

--

... Even when he had a bad cold the following Tuesday.

"Riku not feeling good?" Sora asked that day, fifteen minutes after Riku arrived.

"Not feeling good." Riku agreed.

"Oh, poor baby." Teased the younger boy.

And that was only the start.

During the rest of the week, Riku seemed to keep getting sicker. Of course, the timing was very "convenient." Just as Riku got the hang of working, he had to call in sick. Twice.

On the first day, Sora wasn't exactly the first on his mind.

However, that second day, Riku began to worry. "I told him I'd be there..." He sighed to himself, balancing a bowl of soup on his legs as he sat up in bed.

He just hoped that Sora wouldn't freak out.

After those two days, he took a day to recover. He went back to the asylum that Saturday. He rushed to Sora's room, and opened the door in all haste.

Sora was curled up on his bed, asleep. Riku sat down at the little table and sighed in relief. He had been worried over nothing, after all.

Soon, Kairi came in. "Where were you?" She asked, quietly.

"Sick." Riku replied simply.

"Sora was worried."

_So was I, _Riku thought to himself. "We need you to come in early on Tuesday. Is that alright?"

Riku nodded. "Sure, I guess." The girl then began to ramble about one of the morning attendants going on a trip, and about the time he needed to be there. If he were late for school, it would be automatically excused.

Blah, blah.

After Kairi left, Riku sat and watched Sora sleep, until the boy woke up with a start.

He looked horrible. Exhausted. He was a total mess.

"Sora?" Riku asked, carefully. "You okay?"

"You said you were going to come back." Sora replied, his voice shaky.

"I did."

"No, you didn't." The boy replied, his head hanging.

"Not for a few days... no..." Riku watched Sora intently, wondering what he was going to do.

"Where were you?"

"I was sick." Riku said, a bit harshly. His voice softened. "Didn't anyone tell you?" Sora shook his head, slowly.

Riku held Sora a lot that day...

--

Slowly, things went... somewhat back to normal.

At school the next day, all Riku could think about was Sora. How sad he seemed. How...scared he seemed. The boy seemed so sure he was going to be abandoned, Riku couldn't help but wonder why. _His family never seems to visit, _he thought to himself, _maybe it's that._ Then there was something they had in common; Riku never saw much of his family, either. _I know he trusts me... or, did trust me, at least. I just need to get it so he quits freaking out when I leave again, and--_

"Riku?" The voice of his math teacher snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Huh?"

"The answer to question 3."

The older boy thought for a moment. "Purple." He said.

--

When Riku woke up the next day, he remembered he needed to see Sora before school.

He looked over at the clock. Even if he hurried, he was going to be late. Riku cursed under his breath while pulling on his clothes. He brushed his teeth, and hurried out the door. He could come back for his backpack later.

He arrived soon at the asylum. He greeted Aeris, and Kairi, and walked back toward the rooms.

When he walked into his patient's room, Sora was hardly awake. Everybody else seemed to have gotten up except him.

"Come on, Sora." Riku said, walking over toward the boy's bed. "If I have to get up early, you do, too."

Sora looked over, glaring, but his face softened when he saw who it was.

"Good morning, Riku." His words were slurred.

"'Morning." Replied the older boy. "Time to get up, Sora." Sora looked up and glared again, (though it was more of a pout than a glare, now that Riku thought about it) and lay back down. "You need to wake up now." Riku reached over to put his hand on the younger boy's shoulder, but he pulled away, and turned around. "Look, Sora--" Riku pulled the covers from the bed, and stopped talking.

Sora was now in the white uniform he saw a lot of the other patients wearing. All of which he assumed were the "crazy" ones, and not the kids with disorders. He also saw how many other plushies Sora had. At least ten were squished in his death grip. He pulled some over his face, revealing even more.

Sora must have had a lot of time on his hands.

"They took my clothes." The boy said, sounding shaken. "I know they were sort of dirty, but I don't think I'm getting them back."

Sora certainly looked different. It looked like a big shirt-- the sleeves went past his hands, and the shirt ended at his knees. He had shorts underneath, also to his knees. "I don't like it." Sora said, clutching his sleeve.

"It's not that bad." Riku replied with a shrug. Sora stared at the ground for a while.

"Breakfast!" He said soon after. The sudden change in Sora's mood--and volume level-- made Riku jump.

Riku looked at the clock. 7:30 AM. He'd have to show up at school around 7:50 normally, but today that wouldn't be happening. He nodded.

"Let's get you fed."

Sora nodded.

Again, they sat with the "healthier" patients at the crapperteria. Riku started up at the clock, zoning out, as Sora ate his cereal. Or... attempted to.

Riku looked over at Sora after he felt a splash of... something, on his pants.

Sora had succeeded in getting milk on the table, his own clothes, the older boy's clothes, and anywhere but inside his mouth.

"...Need help?" Riku asked.

"No! No."

"Whatever you say."

After watching the younger boy struggle with a part of his complete nutritious breakfast, Riku decided to help anyway.

He was getting covered in marshmallows.

He took the spoon from Sora, and dipped it in the bowl.

"The spoon's slipper--" Sora tried to explain, but Riku interrupted him by sliding the plastic utensil between the boy's lips. Sora choked, coughed, and swallowed. He glared at Riku, but soon he couldn't help but smile. Riku sat closer to him, and put an arm around his shoulder. With his other hand, he helped Sora eat the cereal.

--

It was 8:15. School had started a while ago. It looked like he was going to miss one of his classes with Nero and Kai.

How "horrible".

Soon, Aeris came in to say it was alright to leave. Instead of leaving, Riku stalled for a while.

"Bye, Sora."

"Bye."

"I'll see you this afternoon."

Sora smiled. "Yeah." There was a pause. "Maybe you'll come in the morning sometime again."

"Maybe."

"So..."

Riku shrugged. "Bye, I guess."

"See you." Sora replied.

"See you." Riku repeated, with a nod.

"Riku," Sora started. "R--"

Another person came in. It was someone Riku didn't recognize.

The guy nodded to Sora, and turned to Riku. "Shouldn't you be going somewhere?" He asked.

Riku got the hint.

--

It was 8:20 when Riku got home to pick up his things for school. It was 8: 34 when Riku arrived at school. He wished he could have missed all of Mr. Morry's class, but he didn't.

He got a detention for being late.

"But you knew I was going to be late!" Riku protested.

"You shouldn't have been _this_ late." Said Mr. Morry.

Instead of arguing, Riku sat down. At least with a detention, he could ignore the outside noise and... think.

About Sora.


	6. Visiting

_another note: _part of the reason I'm uploading this is because my computer hd a meltdown and I don't want to lose this. I did proofread, but it won't be perfect._  
_

_Insane Asylum  
chapter 6_

Soon the weather began to get colder and the sky was gray and cloudy almost every day. Riku had gone in a few more times in the morning but, otherwise, nothing had changed.

One day when Riku went to the asylum after school, Sora looked especially grim.

"What's wrong?" Asked the older boy.

"They're finally changing my meds." Said Sora monotonously. "I have to see the doctor." He looked up to Riku with a pleading look in his eyes. "I don't want to go." Before Riku could speak, Sora repeated himself. "I really, really don't want to go."

"Why not?" Riku asked, finally.

"I don't like him." Sora said quickly.

"Are you... scared of him?"

After a moment, Sora nodded. "Why?"  
Sora shrugged.

"I get a bad feeling when I have to go see him." He explained. "I don't know why."

The door opened, and a man stepped in-- the same man who, not-so-subtly-- told Riku to leave, that first time he worked the morning shift.

"Is that him?" Riku asked. Sora grinned and shook his head.

"Him? No! That's Leon."

"My name is Squall." The man answered flatly. He didn't even so much as glance at Riku. "Are you ready to go?"

"No." The young boy said quickly.

"Come on." Said Squall/Leon.

Hesitantly, Sora got up from his bed and walked out the cell door. The three of them walked down a hall unfamiliar to Riku. None of them spoke a word.

"So," Riku said, breaking the silence. "Squeon..." Squall/Leon looked down at Riku for one brief moment.

"...Nevermind."

They continued to walk in silence until they reached the room that must have been serving as the doctor's office. Sora clutched onto Riku's shoulder as Squall/Leon opened the door slightly and peeked into the room. He said something to the doctor that the younger boys couldn't catch, and let them both in. He walked in shortly after.

The doctor's age wasn't apparent; Riku tried to guess how old the man was, but had trouble coming up with even a vague range of numbers. He had dark skin, but his hair was white. His eyes were gold.

"Sora, isn't it?" He asked, looking over some papers.

"Yes." Sora said quietly.

"You're just here for a change in medication." The doctor replied. Squall/Leon muttered something to the doctor. Riku caught nothing but the doctor's name: Ansem. "You haven't had a check-up in a few years it seems. I'll get that out of the way as well." He seemed as though he didn't care about any of it. Riku supposed there was something slightly... off about the man, but nothing to fear the way Sora feared him. Riku held his patient's hand through the whole procedure, but when it was all over with, he still seemed upset.

"Now do you see what I mean?" Sora asked after they reached his cell, rubbing his shoulders. Riku shrugged.

"I don't know why you're so scared of him." He replied.

"Isn't he creepy, though?"

Riku shrugged again and sat down on the chair by the table. "I guess so. But my math teacher is creepier." He offered a smile, but Sora was too shaken up to get the joke.

Riku decided to change the subject. "Why do they keep switching your meds?"

Sora shrugged. "Nothing's working." He shook his head. "But if this one works, they might start letting me go out for a little while during the day." He smiled. "I miss going outside."

Riku rested his chin against the table and closed his eyes. Sora had been there since he was eight years old. That must have been the last time he had been outside for... six years. Riku couldn't even imagine being locked up for that long. That, in itself, must have added to Sora's condition--whatever it was.

"Don't you get lonely?" The older boy asked.

Sora began to cry.

_Damn,_ Riku thought. _I didn't mean to make him cry... _"Um... I'm sorry." He then said, but he didn't know if it would work or not. Sora wiped his eyes and shook his head.

"No," He replied. "That's okay. It's not your fault. I think I just got overemotional... I'm tired today." He smiled and shrugged.

"...Oh." Riku replied after a moment. "Are you okay?"

"Fine!" Sora insisted. "I'm fine."

The door opened, and Squall/Leon stepped back in. "We need to run another test." He said. "Come with me." Sora's eyes widened.

"Are you okay?" Riku asked the younger boy.

"Not so much." He replied.

--

"Why does he have to go back?" Riku asked as the three of them walked down the hall once again.

"We need to run another test." Squall/Leon repeated.

"But why?"

"Because the doctor requested it and I have to do what he says." The man replied bluntly.

The three of them were quiet.

...Until they reached the door to Ansem's office again. That's when Sora began to scream and shout and generally refused to cooperate. Before Riku was able to help, however, Squall/Leon jumped in. Again to Riku, it seemed as though everyone knew how to handle Sora except for him.

That time was the longest it ever took for Sora to calm down. Squall/Leon looked completely unfazed, but Sora looked simply exhausted. Even Riku was starting to feel anxious.

Riku put his hand on Sora's shoulder as they entered the room; Sora was shaking so hard that he was almost unable to walk.

"You're okay." The older boy said quietly. He wasn't even sure that Sora was listening or hearing him.

"Sit down." Ansem said, just as caring as before. (IE: Not very.) He began to explain why he wanted Sora back there, and how it was all relating to the medications.

However, neither of the boys were paying much attention. Sora was too afraid, and Riku was just trying to make sure Sora didn't bolt off running.

"Pay attention, Sora." Squall/Leon said, though it didn't make Sora pay any more attention than before.

"Now," Ansem said, "Let's get this over with."

"I hope you aren't squeamish," Riku said as Ansem pulled a syringe from a drawer.

"I'm not," Sora said, squirming. "But I don't like being near Ansem and a sharp object."

Sora actually took getting a shot (which turned out to be a vaccine to protect him from an ingredient in the new medication shown to cause sickness in some of the patients) very well.

"Are you okay?" Riku asked the younger boy, quietly, as Ansem and Squall/Leon began to talk.

"I guess." Sora replied. "Do you'll think they'll make me come back today?" Riku put his arms around Sora and rested his head on his patient's shoulder. He shook his head.

"I don't think so." He replied. "And if you do... I won't let them make you go. Alright?"

"Alright." Sora said, resting his head against Riku's.

"You can go now." Ansem said to the boys. "I trust you know your way back."

Sora hurriedly jumped up and dragged Riku out the door.

Once they got back to Sora's "room", they sat right down on the bed. Riku put his arms around the younger boy and they both lay down.

"What day is it?" Sora asked.

"Friday."

Sora scowled. "That means you won't be coming in tomorrow."

Riku no longer had to come in on weekends. This change had happened a few weeks earlier.

"Yep." Said Riku.

"Can you visit tomorrow?" The young boy asked. "I mean, you don't have to do any work. Just... visit. For a little while. A few minutes..."

"I'll try." Riku said. "My parents are going to be home tomorrow, so I'll probably do something with them. But when I'm free..."

"What about Sunday?"

Riku shrugged. "I was thinking of going out with a friend, but I might not."

"You had a girlfriend." Sora says. "Are you going out with her on Sunday?"

"No." Riku said, automatically. "And how did you know I had a girlfriend...?"

Sora didn't respond to that. Instead, he asked: "What was her name?

"Naminé." Sora didn't reply. "But we broke up a month ago." Sora still said nothing. "Are you okay?"

"Do you think you can come in sometime in the morning again?" The younger boy purred. "You haven't in a while."

"Maybe." Riku replied. He closed his eyes.

"It's 8:45." Sora said, quietly. "You can leave now."

--

All night Riku tried to figure out how Sora knew about his ex-girlfriend. About why Sora, not only _didn't _throw a fit, but told him he was allowed to leave.

He kept thinking about it until he fell asleep, at 2AM.

--

Riku didn't wake up until noon, to find his parents weren't home. He found a note on the dining room table:

_Riku--_

_Working late. Maybe next weekend._

_--Mom & Dad_

Five words. Five lousy words.

He could go to see Sora but, as guilty as he was about it, he found that he didn't want to go to the asylum. Instead, he made himself something to eat, sat down on the couch, and watched some old movie on TV.

Sometime during the big romantic scene Riku fell asleep; he didn't wake up again until 4PM.

His parents still weren't home.

Well, he still didn't want to go to visit Sora, so he figured he'd try to call, instead. The brochure Kairi had given him had a phone number, and he knew he was allowed to call certain patients. The "healthy" ones. He didn't know if Sora was on that list.

He dialed the number anyway, and asked for Sora when someone picked up the phone. Riku thought it sounded like Aeris, but he wasn't sure.

"Hello?" Came a timid voice from the other end of the line.

"Sora? That you?" Riku asked.

"...Yes. This is he."

"It's Riku."

There was a pause. "Riku?" Sora asked.

"Yeah."

Another pause. "Riku!" The older boy smiled and didn't say anything. He let Sora talk. "Riku! I'm so glad it's you. I'm so glad you called. No one has even _called_ me before. How are you? Did you have fun today? Are you visiting tomorrow?"

Riku chuckled. "I'm fine. My parents had to work today after all, so..."

"I'm sorry."

"Me too. And of course I'm visiting tomorrow." He didn't know where that last part had come from. _He'd be visiting tomorrow...? _But, suddenly, he couldn't wait to visit. To be with Sora. "So, have you had to see the doctor again?"

He could just_... feel _Sora smiling on the other end. "Nope. Not today."

Riku grinned. "That's good."

--

They talked for hours. They talked until Sora had to go for dinner, then they talked more after. They talked until Riku's parents came home, late in the evening.

"Who's on the phone?" His mom asked him.

"It's not for you." He replied.

"What?" Sora asked.

"Nothing." Said the older boy.

An hour later--at eight--Sora had to leave.

"I'll see you tomorrow, right?" He asked, again sounding timid.

"Of course," Riku replied. "Of course..."

_--_

Riku woke up early the next day. Rather than try to go back to sleep, he got up, dressed, and headed for the asylum. When he walked through the doors, he ran into Kairi.

"Hey," she said. "Visiting hours don't start for another hour."

"...Oh." Riku said, smartly. They were quiet, and the girl turned to walk away. "Hey, is there anything I can help out with until then?"

Kairi grinned. "I bet I could find something for you to do."

--

An hour later, Riku went to visit Sora.

"You came!" Sora said, and hugged the older boy.

"Yeah," Riku said. "I came."

They spent the rest of the day together. Riku was really beginning to enjoy working with Sora, he realized then. It was weird that he was just visiting.  
But...

Riku was also really beginning to enjoy being with Sora.


	7. Storm

**Author's note: **Sorry that this story is such a rip off with really short chapters. I hope page 5 makes up for it. (You'll know what I'm talking about when you get there.) Also, I don't know how well proofread this is. If you find any typos that I missed, don't hesitate tell me.

_Insane Asylum  
chapter 7_

The next day, Riku headed to the asylum the minute the last bell rang. It was cold and drizzling (with a 60 percent chance of rain), but he didn't pay much attention to the weather, anyway. Earlier that day he had another meeting with the principal to check his progress in school and with his job. His grades, apparently, were looking better and he hadn't been getting into so much trouble, like he had been before.

Plus, now Riku had a place to go after school where Nero and Kai weren't allowed. And, of course, there was Sora...

Maybe this job really had been a blessing in disguise.

When Riku walked through the doors Aeris was there. He hadn't seen her in a while. "You might have to work a bit late tonight," she said. "It may rain, and when it does, the patients tend to get a little unruly. We could really use the extra help."

"No problem."  
And now Riku could listen to Aeris without getting bored out of his wits.  
Yet _another _personal victory.

When he walked down the hall, he saw Kairi. "Hey," He said.

"Hey." Kairi replied.

"Kairi?" Riku asked, after a moment. The girl looked up at him, but didn't say anything. "Do you want to do something with me this weekend?"

Kairi cocked her head to the side, much like Sora often did. "Like a date?" She asked.

Riku nodded. "Sure. Why not?"

"You jackass!" She replied. "Think about what it would do to Sora." She looked at him for a moment and walked away.

Choosing to ignore the awkward moment, Riku made his way to Sora's cell and let himself in. Something was different today, but Riku couldn't tell what. He was just so happy to see his patient, and felt truly wanted. It was refreshing after his parents hadn't come home that weekend. The feeling made him forget about Kairi and everyone else, though it bothered him when he saw that Sora was already looking worried, or like at any moment he would start screaming.

"Are you alright?" Riku asked, sitting down next to the younger boy. Sora didn't respond for a moment. Riku was about to ask again when Sora suddenly perked up and answered.

"I am now." He said, clutching on to the older boy's arm. Riku nearly melted in his seat.

Something had definitely changed.

The day had gone as normal-- Riku did homework, Sora sat in silence next to him. After Riku finished, the two of them talked. It was all so routine but it didn't feel as if it were the same thing every day. Riku, at the back of his mind, wondered if today seemed different to Sora as well.

Suddenly, Sora's face and voice turned grim. "I think it's going to rain today." He buried his face in Riku's arm. "I hate the rain."

"How come?" The silver-haired asked, his voice gentle. A long time passed before Sora replied.

"Bad things always happen when it rains." He said, finally. "Don't let anything bad happen." The latter came out like a demand.

"I won't." Riku said, unsurely, patting his patient's back. "I won't."

The boys sat like that for a long time, thinking. Riku wondered about why Sora hated the rain so much, and if it were just water in general. Or, water falling from the sky, rather. That would certainly explain why his patient was the only one with a separate bath, rather than a shower...

As for Sora? Well, who knows what he was thinking.

"Riku?" Sora asked.

"Hm?"

"Do you think you'll be staying later tonight? Just out of curiosity." Riku shrugged.

"Maybe, but I'm not making any promises." The older boy then winced, wondering if his wording was harsh. Sora didn't seem to mind.

"But... would you? If it does rain?" He asked. Riku nodded.

"Of course."  
--

And it did. A few minutes later it began sprinkling, and a half an hour after that, it was raining.

Sora wasn't totally freaking out...yet... but he was getting close.

"Sora?" Riku asked, trying to bring up something that would take the boy's mind off the rain. "Are you sure you don't want to get something to eat from the crapperteria? Dinner's at seven, right?" They both glanced at the clock. It was 4:13. "We could get started now and just walk slow."  
Sora just looked at him. "What? What is it?" He asked, nervously. He didn't too much enjoy the way the younger boy was looking at him.

"Eat from the what?" Sora just asked, incredulously.

Riku repeated what he had said to Sora a few times before he caught his mistake. "The cafeteria!" He said. "Eat from the cafeteria."

The younger boy kept looking at him. "You're _weird_." He said, finally.

Once it got close to five, they really did begin to make their way towards the cafeteria. Sora, as usual, got enough food for an army. And, also as usual, Riku got nothing. He figured he'd be heading home in a few hours, despite the rain.

"Are you sure you don't want part of my sandwich?" Sora asked. "It's tuna... I think."

"...I think I'll pass."

"Are you really sure? Really?"

Riku could see that this wasn't going to end anytime soon and chose to take half of the sandwich. Unfortunately, eating it didn't confirm what the substance between the pieces of bread was.

"I can't wait until I can eat real food." Sora said, suddenly.

"Why can't you?" Riku asked.

"You know how we're kind of split into groups judging on our health?"  
Riku nodded, and Sora continued. "I'm not healthy enough to have foods like chicken, or beef. I don't know why they do it that way, and as far as I know, no other place does it. I think it's for safety. Like, I should have things that I won't choke to death on or attack someone with if I... if I..."

Riku nodded so the younger boy wouldn't have to finish.

"Why do you?" Riku said, keeping the question vague. He knew Sora would get it. "I mean, what causes it? And why?" He chose to ignore the image of Sora attacking someone with a turkey leg that instantly sprung into his mind.

Sora looked down. "Can we talk about it later? After we eat?"

"Of course."  
Sora smiled and quickly changed the subject.

--  
After they went back to Sora's cell, they fell quiet. They had talked through dinner and while they walked away from the cafeteria, but now there seemed to be nothing to talk about. Sora brought up small, light topics.

"How's school going?" Sora asked.

"Good."

"How's your family?"

"Good."

"How was the sandwich?"

"Good. Now, why don't you tell me about the stuff I asked about while we were eating?"

Sora looked down and shrugged. "I see things." He said. "Really horrible, scary things. Little black creatures, crawling everywhere. I get horrible nightmares and the most vivid dreams... when it's good, it's great and I'm sad when it's ended. But when it's bad I feel it and those feelings are the ones that last the longest. And I hear a voice. Not a lot, just one. But it tells me to be brave. It's not one of those little voices at the back of your mind, and it's not my conscience." Riku always forgot that Sora could really sound intelligent and mature. And he could really, really talk. "It's not schizophrenia." The young boy concluded. "It's _real_."

"Sora?" Riku asked after a moment. The boy perked up upon hearing his name, as he usually did. "You always change the subject when I talk about you or… this place. Do you hate talking about it?"

Sora cocked his head to the side. "Do I? Well… I don't hate it, but I really like hearing about _you_."

"Why do you hate rain and stuff?" Riku asked. He wanted to get that question in before Sora decided he wanted to quit talking, should that happen. He didn't know how willing his patient was to talk about his illness.

"That's when it all starts."

"What, your illness did?"

"No." Sora said, and left it at that.

Thunder crashed, and Sora squeaked and flew onto his bed. "Thanks for...you know, distracting me from the rain." Sora said, his voice uneven. "But I like to know when it starts pouring."  
--

Later, at eight o'clock, Aeris came in. "Riku, it's storming hard out." She said. "I'm sorry, you may have to stay here the whole night. It's dark, the roads are slippery. I just wouldn't feel right having you at there at a time like this."

"I won't be driving." He assured her. He knew he couldn't leave Sora, but he felt like clearing that up, anyway.

"You could catch pneumonia." She answered. "Besides, I just heard on the radio that two cars have already slid onto the sidewalk. There's a spare bed I can get for you. Please, stay." Riku thought he heard Sora murmur, 'just listen', but he wasn't too sure.

"I'll stay." Riku said, to both Aeris and Sora. "Don't worry about it."

Aeris smiled. "I'll go fetch the spare bed." She shut the door with unnecessary force as she left.

"You're staying." Sora said, smiling. "You're staying."

After Aeris got the spare bed and the two boys set it up, they figured they'd best get to bed.

The lights were flickering and dimming constantly.

"Riku?" Sora said quietly. He didn't need to speak very loudly; Riku's bed was pushed next to him.

"You okay?" Riku asked.

"I think so." Sora replied uneasily. Right after, lightening flashed and he buried himself under the covers.

"Are you sure?" After no reply, the older boy tried again. "Sora?" Riku saw his patient nodding from under the covers, and the lights shut off.

Sora instantly began to freak out, along with some of the other patients, in the other rooms. Riku could hear the muffled sounds through the walls.

"Sora?" Riku asked, trying to pull the covers down to get to Sora. "Come on, Sora. Come on." He was beginning to speak more to himself than to the younger boy. After a lot of searching, the older boy found his patient. When the lightening flashed again, he could see that the younger boy was huddled against the wall, curled up, shivering. Whether it was from the cold or not, Riku couldn't tell. Either way, the sight of Sora like that bothered him immensely. "You're okay." The older boy felt around to try and find his patient's shoulder. He found what felt like Sora's plush dolls before finding the shoulder. "You're okay." He repeated.

"_No I'm not!_" The boy shouted. "Bullshit!"

Riku was utterly shocked. When they had first met, Sora had been extremely _childish_. He never thought he'd hear Sora talk like that.

And the second shocking event was when he pulled the younger boy up and kissed him. Neither of them know where this sudden spark of--lust? Affection? Infatuation?-- had come from… but that didn't mean they fought against it.

Sora clutched onto Riku's shirt as Riku gently began to run his hands across the younger boy's face and back. For one awkward moment they stayed like that, lips touching and nothing more. Riku pulled Sora even closer and they kissed deeply. Somehow, Riku ended up on top of Sora. Sora opened his mouth, allowing the older boy to slide his tongue in. Curiously and timidly at first, they explored each other's mouths.

Sora was the first to pull away.

"Riku…" he said. "This is so…"

"Weird." The silver haired replied, beginning to kiss the younger boy's neck. Sora nodded.

"But," he continued, "it's also really…"

"It's really good." Riku finished. He took Sora's face in his hands and kissed him, quickly, on the lips. Sora was about to open his mouth again, but Riku had gone under the covers, kissing his patient's neck again, chest, and stomach. Once he came up again the two boys shared another kiss and began to explore each other's mouths once more.

The lights flashed back on, and, against all the white in the room, were positively blinding.

"Stupid inconvenient lighting…" Riku muttered, covering his eyes and sliding under the covers. Sora burrowed under the covers as well. He didn't make a sound. "You awake?"

"I'm awake, RiKU." It had been so long since the younger boy had said Riku's name in that way-- he had sounded so much like a child that, for a brief second, Riku felt like a cradle robber.

"Yeah," He said, after a moment. "Well…" He didn't continue though, for Sora had fallen fast asleep.

--

They woke up the next morning, Riku sprawled on top of Sora's bed, and Sora curled on top of Riku's bed.

And for the awkward morning-after-the-first-make-out-session , they were both faced with a difficult question: cut to the chase and talk about what had happened the night before and what it meant for them, or make some lame small talk about how they somehow switched beds?

"God, Sora, how did you end up in my bed?" Riku asked, forcing a chuckle. Sora nodded and forced a laugh as well. "So…" he added, after a while.

"So." The younger boy agreed.

"Feeling better this morning?" Riku asked, lamely.

"Yeah."

"That's good."

"Yeah. I think so, too." They were quiet for a long time, until Sora spoke up. "Are we supposed to talk about yesterday now? You know… last night?"

Riku shrugged. "I guess we should."

They were quiet again.

"I liked it." Sora decided.

"Me too." Riku agreed.

And that was that.


	8. Away from the Asylum

Author's note: Woo! A somewhat quick update and not-as-short chapter! AND FLUFF.

_Insane Asylum_

_Chapter 8_

"Sora," Riku said, suddenly. Sora perked up at the sound of his name.

"Yes?"

"Tell me everything about you."

Two days had passed since the storm. Riku had arrived to the asylum from school one hour prior to his question to Sora.

The night before had changed everything.

For the first time that day, the older boy simply couldn't wait to go to the asylum. He was thrilled after the dull endless school hours ended and when he arrived in Sora's cell, the two boys immediately embraced and kissed. Riku could tell that his patient had been waiting for him. More so than usual, even. So, there they were, lazily laying on Sora's bed, the younger boy in Riku's arms.

Sora shifted uncomfortably. "Like what?"

"Absolutely everything."

Sora shifted again. "Well… I'm the fourth of five children. All boys." He laughed, softly. "Am I boring already?"

"No, of course not." Riku replied, then added: "Shit. _Five_?" Sora nodded with a weak smile.

"Yeah. My oldest brother is a lot older… there's a big age difference between some of us, except me and my little brother are only three years apart. We were really close… Actually, I think my oldest brother should be almost thirty now. Twenty… five?" He was now talking more to himself than to Riku. "Which would make the second oldest of us… twenty-one. Then the third is… nineteen, and my little brother is eleven. That sounds right." Riku began to stroke Sora's hair. "Anyway, anyway. So, Riku…"

Riku could tell that Sora had never talked about _himself_ before, though he seemed to be used to talking about his illness.

"I don't know when I started seeing these things. I think I always have, but it just kept getting worse as time went by. I started having episodes in First Grade.

My parents thought it was the kids at first. That they scared me or something. They sent me to this private school that my two oldest brothers were going to, but I didn't get better. They may have thought having my brothers around me would help, but they really ignored me or they picked on me. Not a lot though. I guess it was all brotherly…

I kept having episodes and I wouldn't get better. My parents tried punishing me, talking to me, sending me to the school psychologist… nothing worked. I was always getting in trouble, and no one my age would talk to me. I wasn't picked on… just… avoided.

By the time I was eight, I think my parents really had it. They knew I was seeing things, and by then I was hearing the voice as well. I was sent here."

Riku held Sora closer as he began to shake. Something about the younger boy had seemed different. It had all day. "My family never visited. Not even once." He paused. "I miss them." Tears began rolling down his cheeks and he seemed childish once again. "Why won't they visit me, Riku?"

"I'm sorry." Riku said, though he knew it wasn't enough. He leaned over and kissed the younger boy's forehead.

---

For the rest of the night, Sora's words echoed in Riku's mind.

"_Why won't they visit me, Riku?"_

However, the next day, Sora was back to his normal self.

"Riku! Riku's here!" He shouted when Riku arrived, pouncing on the older boy.

"What's gotten into you?" Riku asked, laughing.

"I'm heavily medicated!"

Riku sat up and gently pushed the younger boy off of him.

"And that's it?" Riku pushed. "There isn't _anything_ else?" He hadn't seen Sora this happy… ever. He smiled, and finally spoke up. His voice was quiet.

"Aeris said that I'm getting well enough that I can start going outside soon."

"Sora… that's great!"

The younger boy nodded. "If I can go three days without having… an episode, I get to go outside for an hour. With supervision. It's not a lot, but…"

"It's still wonderful." Riku interrupted, and hinted: "And… who will be supervising?"

"I don't know. I was thinking of getting Kairi and…" Riku's face fell, and Sora grinned. "Who do you think?"

They kissed.

"You little brat." The older boy teased. Sora laughed.

"You're not mad, are you?" He said, then, suddenly worried.

"No. I can't wait to take you out."

"Sora?" Riku asked, much later. It was getting close to time for him to leave. They had spent the whole day kissing and holding and making small talk.

"Hm?"

"Do you think if I start getting into fights and stuff again they'll make me work longer?"

Sora thought for a moment. "If you start getting in trouble again, you might have to switch jobs because this isn't working. I don't want that."

Riku nodded and decided to start on his homework, which he had been planning to skip.

Plus, it was a nice excuse to stay later that night.

---

The three days that passed were excruciatingly long, but, finally, Sora could go outside. It was a Friday. It was a huge event, even though they were only allowed out for an hour and couldn't leave the asylum property.

"This is great." Sora kept saying. "This is so great." And Riku would stroke the younger boy's arm and agree and smile and be supportive. They did a lot of walking around. "You know, I've never seen what the outside of this place looks like until now."

"You like it?"

"It's very nice. It's pretty." And it was-- there were trees and rose bushes everywhere. He smiled and grabbed Riku's arm. "I'm so glad you're here."

"I'm glad I'm here with you." Riku murmured, pulling Sora close. "What are we going to do when you can leave the property?" Sora smiled.

"I want to see everything. I want to see what's changed. I want to be able to run and climb trees again and… just… I want to be with you."

"We'll do it all as soon as we can." Riku replied, with a smile. "I promise."

The boys wandered around and talked about all of the things they'd do once Sora could leave--whether it be for an hour, or permanently-- almost the entire time. Sora didn't freak out. Nothing went wrong.

Everything was looking up.

---

On Saturday, Riku dropped by the asylum to give Sora a surprise visit. When he arrived, Sora was outside with Squall/Leon.

"Riku!" The boy's patient shouted, running toward him. Squall/Leon got a hold of Sora's shirt and held him back.

"Hey, Sora!" Riku replied.

"No visitors while Sora's outside until he's well enough to leave a mile away from asylum property." Squall/Leon said, monotonously, both to Riku and to Sora. "See you later." He said, to Riku, over-emphasizing "later".

_Hmm! Whatever, _Riku thought. "I'll see you later, then, Sora…" Sora just nodded. As much as he loved being with Riku, he wasn't going to sacrifice his time outside.

Time passed. It would rain a little more-- no more storms, but light sprinkling and a lot of drizzling, and it just seemed to get colder and colder. However, Sora was stubborn about getting time out every day.

"Sora," Riku tried to explain one day as Sora insisted they go out. "It's _cold._"

Sora pouted.

"This is _so_ important to me, Riku." He said, and Riku shut up after that. They were outside in about five minutes and-- to Sora's advantage and Riku's dismay-- the younger boy now knew a secret weapon to make Riku do as he wanted: act cute and sad.

Now, if he so wished, Sora could probably rule the world.

"Guess what," He said, after they had been outside for a few minutes. The boys were huddled close under a tree.

"What?" The older boy asked.

"I get to leave the property. Aeris said that you're allowed to take me out because you've never done anything wrong before. For the first few days we can only leave up to a mile, but after that…" Sora closed his eyes and smiled. "I think I'm finally better." He rested his head on Riku's shoulder and continued. "And after I can go out, maybe I can stay in an open room--not a cell-- and eat the foods that everyone else can eat. Then I'll be released and I can see my family again…" He sighed. "I hope so."

Riku pulled the boy on his lap and said, quietly, "Me, too." He grinned and began to tickle the younger boy, fully aware of how mushy and gross they were getting. "But you'll have to visit me!"

---

Sora wasn't completely correct--- the first time he could leave premises, it was with both Aeris and Kairi. Riku was dismissed for the day. However, for the following days, Riku and Sora were free to leave. The first time, they walked around a bit and made more small talk before settling down and making out under a large tree.

That's pretty much how the second and third time went, too.

The fourth time, Sora started getting antsy and actually asked to go back to his cell-- rather than being dragged back in by a half-frozen Riku. When they arrived back in the cell Sora went under the covers of his bed.

"Cold?" Riku asked, lost and confused. He didn't think that was the reason, really, for he could see the younger boy shaking, breathing hard, and holding on to one of his dolls. (He made a mental note to ask Sora about those soon.)

After he didn't reply, Riku spoke up again. "What's wrong?"

"I started feeling like I do before I… you know. And I didn't want to have my going miles outside get pushed back any further. I thought it would be best to come back."

"That was smart." Riku agreed. He didn't know what else to say.

"Thanks." Sora murmured. "Sit next to me. Please?" And the older boy did more than that; he crawled under the covers and held his patient close.

"Are you going to be okay?" He whispered.

"Yeah." The younger by replied, with a nod. He began squirming, and Riku got the hint to let go and give Sora some space.

He sat at the table and drew until Sora was feeling better.

"You okay now?" He asked, as Sora crawled out from under his covers and stood up.

"I'm good." The boy replied, smiling, as if the whole occurrence had never happened. "Do you have homework?"

"It's all done with. Why?"

Sora shrugged. "You mentioned not doing it a few days ago. I was worried you wouldn't do it and you wouldn't be able to come and see me anymore."

"I wouldn't do that." Riku said, quickly. "Trust me-- I wouldn't."

The young boy smiled. "I trust you." He said.

---

And--finally-- the day had come. After a long period of time of Sora not being allowed to leave over one mile away from the asylum, he could leave and go wherever he wanted.

With supervision.

For a forty-five minutes.

A small victory, but a _grand_ one.

And it was all worth it when Sora could leave with Riku for a whole afternoon.

Of course, the asylum's employees weren't careless. They knew that, as much as Sora _was_ responsible, and _did _have good judgment-- the same with Riku, anything could go wrong. So, they armed the boy with a simple tracking device, to be worn around his arm like a bracelet.

Problem solved… not-so-subtly.

Every time Riku reached over to put his hand over his patient's he felt the tracking device. "Doesn't that… thing upset you?" He finally asked.

Sora shrugged. "They do what they have to. I don't mind that it means that no one trusts me."

"I trust you."

The boys both smiled and kept walking.

"Is your house near here, Riku?" Sora asked, a minute later.

"No. It's in the other direction." The silver-haired replied.

"Where are we going now?"

"The park."

Sora immediately perked up. "I used to go there when I was little."

"Oh, really?" Riku asked, just for the sake of replying.

"It was really boring!" He smiled more and added, "Let's go!" He grabbed Riku's wrist and started running. He stopped after a few steps. "Um… where is the park?"

Riku smirked. "Let me lead." And now they walked, Sora's arms around Riku's waist, and head rested on the older boy's shoulder.

When they arrived they sat on a bench, but Sora couldn't sit still very long. They ended up wandering around a woodsy area.

…When they ran into the worst people they ever could have run into:

Nero and Kai.

_I should have known they would be here, _Riku thought to himself, frantically. _I should have known! _Riku didn't have to say anything to the younger boy, who instantly could tell who they were. Riku's upset reaction said enough.

For one brief moment, the two groups were surprised to see the other, and not one of them knew what to say.

Nero quickly ruined the semi-peaceful (but 100 percent awkward) silence. "Is this your little crazy friend?" He asked, with a smirk, glancing over at Sora. Sora stared at the ground and didn't say a word.

"Leave it alone." Riku said, sternly. He knew that if they began to fight, everyone at school would soon know, and this could affect his job and his time with Sora. However, he _did_ have a strong urge to kick his enemy in the groin.

Hard.

Kai quickly joined into the impending fight. "He your lover?" He asked, grinning. Nero took his friend's comment and ran with it.

"Yeah, that'd be perfect for you. You and your little crazy lover."

"Cut it out." Riku replied, still trying to remain calm. "Go away and leave us alone."

"That's it?" Nero bantered. "You too afraid to do anything else in front of your little lover?"

It was all innocent--as innocent as a fight could get, anyhow-- until Kai began to try and pester Sora: he reached out and grabbed young boy's arm.

"What the hell is this?" Kai asked. He had grabbed the hand with the tracking device.

"Get away from him or else." Riku said sternly.

"Or else." Nero repeated, with a smile. Sora was struggling to get his arm free, but it didn't look as if Kai had any intention to let go.

"I'm not going to hurt you!" He said, loudly. "I just want to freaking _see_!" The young boy didn't listen; he continued struggling and clung closer still to Riku. "Quit _moving_!"

The silver-haired was torn: beat the crap out of them--not just for annoying him, but for scaring Sora-- and risk his job? Or just stand there, pathetic and defeated?

"SHUT. UP." Riku was shouting now. Sora broke free from Kai's grip and stood off to the side, still quiet.

"Yeah?" Nero asked. "The hell are you going to do about it?"

Just as the silver-haired was getting ready to start throwing punches, a drop of water hit his hand. It began to sprinkle, and Sora absolutely freaked out. He clung to the older boy's back and began shouting unintelligible things. _Not now, Sora, _Riku was thinking. _Please, not now_.

He said, "_Sora_!"

The boy began to shout even louder after that. It shortly began to rain, and Sora simply lost it. Nero and Kai forgot about the fight and left as quickly as they could. "It's okay. It's okay. We're going back now, Sora."

---

Sora was on edge for the rest of the night.

"I'm sorry I embarrassed you in front of them by doing this." He said, a few hours before Riku left for home. Riku shook his head.

"Don't be sorry for anything." He said. "It's not your fault."

"I can't believe I had an episode on my first day away." Sora mused. Riku couldn't help but notice how sad the boy sounded. "Of all days for it to rain…"

"You want me to stay the night?" The older boy asked.

"It's alright. You don't have to."

"You going to be okay?"

Sora nodded. "I guess so… yeah. I'll be just fine."

"I'll see you tomorrow then?" Riku asked, signaling to the clock that now read 9 o'clock.

"Yeah." Sora said, a bit more happy. "I'll see you tomorrow."

---

Riku, again, woke up in the middle of a night. For a while he thought about his encounter with Nero and Kai, and about Sora.

And then it hit him: what were _Nero and Kai _doing in the woodsy area behind the park, all alone like that?

He decided they were setting fire to squirrels, the bastards.

He fell back asleep soon after that.


	9. Another Try

**Note: **According to my story plan, Sora's dolls were supposed to be explained in the last chapter. Oops.  
**Another note: **Woo! Ten pages and completed in the timeframe I wanted it to be completed in. (Could have been sooner though!) But still! I updated it before a month passed! XD (I just hope FFnet's time zone thing isn't ahead!)  
Sorry for not referring Riku's parents as anything more than "Riku's mom" and "Riku's dad". They're not very important, anyway.  
**Last note, really: ** Sorry I'm not very descriptive. Sometimes I get ahead of myself so I can get to the main plot point and get it done. I'm seriously working on this. I constantly feel as though I'm ripping all you off.  
**Also: **Dear lord, I got kind of weird in this chapter, in some parts. Or are they always that weird? (Pants conspiracy?? (You'll see.)) Help me-- I'm going insane! ...What's up with my long string of notes? This is probably why it hit ten pages.

_Insane Asylum  
Chapter 9_

Riku was anxious to get the school next day. He was afraid that the word of Nero and Kai's encounter with Sora would spread and everyone would be talking about it.

He did not want anyone saying anything bad about Sora. The boy really wasn't as crazy as he probably seemed to Riku's arch enemies._ He's not a freak. He's not stupid. He's an innocent, good person, _Riku repeated to himself. _He just has some issues and… _He sighed. Would he have to be telling this to people all day?

He hurried to school in the morning. He figured he may as well hear what everyone was saying and get it over with.

And…no one said a word.

Not one.

Riku was truly confused. Did no one care? Or had, God forbid it, Nero and Kai actually _not_ blabbed about it?

This was new and very strange. Usually, if something odd like that had happened the whole school would know about it, due to Kai's inability to keep his mouth shut.

Riku was not complaining.

The day went by somewhat normally. Riku didn't get into any trouble, and he _did _eventually get a little crap from Nero about his "crazy little boyfriend" during English class. But, other than that little hardly-noticeable joke, nothing.

--

As for Sora-- he wasn't allowed to go out again for a week. But, frankly, he didn't mind. It had been rainy and he sure as hell wouldn't have gone out, even if he could. Staying inside and talking with Riku was just as good.

"I've been meaning to ask you," the older boy asked, as soon as he arrived in Sora's cell. "What's up with your dolls?"

Sora cocked his head. "I made them to distract me from everything. It took up a lot of my time and helped my nerves. They're really cute, aren't they? I'd still make them if I were allowed to be near sharp things."

Riku nodded. Before he could enter Sora's cell he had to give up any sharp objects (not that he ever had any), his shoelaces (which he got back whenever he and Sora went outside), and his belt. (Riku had no clue on that one. He figured that there was either something potentially dangerous about belts, or that the people running the asylum were secretly perverts and running a pants-falling-down conspiracy.)

_Back to the dolls_, Riku thought to himself, shaking his head. Enough of these thoughts of pants-falling-down conspiracies. "But… one looked like me."

"I made two of you." Sora interrupted.

"But how did you know what I…?"

Sora smiled and shrugged. "Some of them are based off of real people I've seen. I could kind of tell by... just looking who would end up being important in my life. That's how I made the doll of Kairi."

"And me?"

"The design just came to me, I guess." Riku was getting a little creeped out. "Don't worry." The young boy assured him. "It's really normal. I promise."

"I hope so." Riku said, shivering. Sora just smiled. He lay down on his bed, arms behind his head.

"I think you owe me for making me talk so much about these things." He said, grinning.

"Yeah?" Riku asked, grinning as well. He got up from the table he was sitting at and sat on Sora's bed. They kissed. The older boy wrapped his arms around Sora and clutched onto to his patient's oversized white shirt. They pulled away, but Riku didn't let go. "That work?"

"Oh, yeah. That worked." They kissed once more, but that was cut short. Sora pulled away frantically when he heard the rain start to fall outside. It looked to Riku as if he were about to throw a fit, but Sora was able to pull himself together.

"What's your problem with rain?" Riku asked, gently.

"It messes everything up." The young boy said, desperately. "Everything started then. Everything went wrong. Oh… I hate the rain."

"_What_ happened?" The older boy pushed. "_What _went wrong?"

"I can't tell you yet. Please don't go." Sora was changing subjects faster than Riku could understand. Nothing he said made sense.

"Nothing is going to happen."

"Yes it will!"

"Sora…" Riku said, trying to remain calm and gentle. "You need to face your fear of rain someday."

"NO!" The boy's outburst nearly made Riku fall off the side of the bed.

"Nothing's going to happen!" He insisted. Sora just shook his head.

"Just leave it alone."

Riku couldn't understand was Sora was so upset about and it was obvious that he wasn't going to give up. He, suddenly, got an idea. He remembered that, during his first few days at the asylum, the "ranks", so to speak, were explained. Sora was allowed to have his own shower (which was replaced with a small tub because of Sora's fear of rain) and shower without supervision-- as long as there was an employee nearby.

The older boy grabbed his patient by the arm. "What are you doing?" Riku didn't answer. "Riku? Riku? What are you doing?"

"You need to face your fear of--"

"I HATE YOU!"

"--water and stuff. I'm not going to send you out in the rain. I guess this'll do. I hope you have spare clothes." Sora squirmed and squealed and tried to get away.

"Look," Sora said, still panicky. "I'm sorry I said I hate you. I don't. Don't go."

"I'm not going anywhere." The older boy assured him, but Sora paid no attention.

"I'm not doing this. Don't make me do this."

Riku continued, "Give it three minutes." The water continued to run and he realized that he had no clue what he was to do from here. Just shove Sora in the shower?

Good enough for Riku. However, the plan backfired--Sora clung onto the wall and refused to let go. After a while, Riku stopped trying to shove Sora in the shower and Sora stopped struggling. The water was still running--the older boy didn't want to waste the warm water, but he didn't turn it off.

"Sora, I think we should do this." The young boy shook his head. "We'll take it slow. I'll give you time." The whole conversation sounded dirty. "Just put a hand in or whatever. Then everything else. You're in two minutes, you get out. No harm, no foul. I'll be there the whole time."

"Will it make things better?" Sora asked, to Riku's surprise.

"I don't know." The older boy answered honestly. "But… I hope so."

"I trust you." Sora said, informatively. "Maybe… a little later we can give it a try."

Riku shut off the water.

--

And, later, Sora actually did.

They made their way back into the bathroom and turned on the shower.

"You owe me." Sora said, his voice shaking. "You _owe me_." Slowly, Sora put on hand into the shower. "You know what you said earlier? Well, I hope I have spare clothes, too." He put on foot in. "It's not that bad." He said to himself. Riku gave him a slight shove, and Sora slipped right into the shower.

He managed two stay in for the two minutes, though he freaked out the whole time. Riku wondered why he didn't just get out-- Sora screamed and fussed and clung to a wall. For support, even though he knew it didn't help, Riku had his hand on his patient's shoulder. Sora was wailing at this point.

Riku really, really wasn't helping. He decided to just leave Sora alone (without leaving the room), and wait until Sora got out.

"Are you okay?" He asked, the minute the young boy got out. Sora nodded. He was shaking all over. "You aren't… mad, are you?"

"No."

But they didn't talk for a while.

--

In a nice twist of fate, Sora had spare clothes under his bed. He quickly changed (Riku was kind enough not to watch) and sat back on his bed.

"I know you were trying to help." He said, suddenly. "Even when you pushed me in." The older boy put his arm around Sora. "…but I'd prefer you wouldn't touch me. I'm really sorry. Please don't go." The last part was rushed, but still managed to sound casual. The boy never ceased to take Riku by surprise.

"It's okay, Sora. And I won't go."

--

Riku was in a rush, once again, to get to the asylum the next day.

The day before had gone smoothly. Well, as smoothly as things could go with Sora. And the rain. (Or things that are similar to rain but really very different. Like the shower.)

"How are you?" He asked the second he stepped into Sora's cell. He was quiet after he realized that Sora wasn't alone; Squall/Leon was there as well. "So, Squeon…" Squall/Leon looked over at Riku for one brief moment. "Never mind."

"Hi, Riku." Sora said. He seemed to be back to normal. "Leon's getting more spare clothes for me."

"It's Squall." The man said.

"Riiiight."

Squall/Leon just rolled his eyes. He finished getting Sora's new spare clothes and towels momentarily and patted the young boy's head as he left. "Bye, Leon!"

"It's Squall!"

--

"You know," Sora said abruptly. "I thought that it would be a long time until I could go outside again, but they'll let me try this week. I can't leave the campus for a while, but…"

Riku grinned. "That's good."

"Yeah! Then maybe we can try going out again." Sora closed his eyes and sighed. "I still want to be able to _do stuff. _And maybe we can go to your house." He may as well have added "hint, hint, hint" to the end of his sentence.

"Yeah. Maybe."

--

It didn't seem to be a long time until Sora was allowed to leave the premises again. The boys knew how the system went--they went through it once before.

"So," Sora said, as the door to the asylum closed behind them. "Where to? I'm open for anything. Just… not the park again."

"But the squirrels…" Riku replied.

"Huh?"

The older boy shook his head. "Nothing." He began to walk when he felt Sora clinging to him. "Don't freak out." Riku murmured to himself.

"I'm not freaking out! _I'm hugging you._" The younger boy sounded almost offended.

"…Sorry."

--

"Do you like ice cream?" Riku asked, after they had been quiet for a while. Sora perked up and smiled.

"I haven't had ice cream in so long… can we get some?"

Riku nodded. "Yeah. There's a great ice cream shop on the corner."

The younger boy shifted uncomfortably once they got in the store. "I don't have any money."

"It's on me."

"I wouldn't feel right, R--" Sora started, but his protest was cut short.

"I invited you , I pay."

Sora smiled. "Well, if you insist…"

They both got three scoops, three different flavors. (Not that anyone really needs to know, but Riku got chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry, and Sora got… well, Riku couldn't figure out what the flavors were supposed to be, exactly, but as they melted together they turned green.

…That's just not right.)

Riku looked around and noticed a few kids from school. None of them paid any mind to him _or_ Sora. He thought back to school earlier; no one had mentioned Sora there, either.

Now, in the older boy's mind, this should have been when Nero and Kai walked in, they all fought, and both Riku and Sora were punished--but not Nero or Kai.

But… nothing happened. No Nero and Kai. The kids from school soon left, never once noticing Riku. _Am I going insane? _He thought.

"Life's weird." He said.

"Tell me about it." Sora replied, before finishing his last spoonful of ice cream.

--

The boys left soon after they finished. They stood outside of the shop (in front of the doors, mind you-- very rude and blocking the way out, if there were to be an emergency).

They had no clue what to do from there.

Suddenly, Sora grabbed his arm and led the older boy to a remote area, just past the park.

"I didn't even know this place was here." Riku said, surprised. There was no one around. "How did you…?"

"I don't know." Sora replied, simply. He closed his eyes and sat down. A moment passed- Riku wanted to break the silence, but the young boy seemed to lost in thought. He suddenly perked up, stood, and attempted to climb a tree.

A very poor attempt, mind you.

"Sora…?" Riku asked, still bewildered that Sora found this odd spot that he himself hadn't even known about. "Do you need help?"

"No, I got it." The boy insisted.

He needed some help. However, instead of helping, Riku decided it would be fun to watch Sora struggle and fall off the tree a few more times.

Ever the excellent… friend.

_Friend…_Riku thought to himself. _Are we more than friends? Are we even friends? _He sighed to himself and decided to go help his patient with the whole tree situation.

"I'll help you."

"I don't need--" The younger boy protested.

"You need my help." Riku said, then, "You're way too dependant." He climbed up to a low branch, then pulled Sora up as well. "Asking for help once in a while won't kill you." It was a big tree; they could both fit easily on one branch. Riku sat with his back resting against the trunk and Sora rested against Riku's chest.

"You smell nice." Sora observed, suddenly.

"…Thanks."

"No, maybe it's the tree."

"…"

Sora laughed to himself. "I guess I still can't believe I'm outside after all this time."

"Fantastic." Riku agreed. "You know what? You should stay at my house for a little while. Before you have to go back. We can have an early dinner."

Sora perked up. "Do you really think that they'd let me…?"

"I can always call Aeris or something and ask if you're nervous about it."

"Yes." Sora said. "Yes!"

They stayed in the tree for a little while longer.

"Don't you feel like a king up here?" Riku asked, suddenly.

Sora looked over and nodded. "So high above everything? Yeah!" Sora sat up straight and shouted, "I'm the KING!" He grinned.

"I haven't climbed a tree in so long…" Riku said to himself, amusedly.

"Neither have I." The young by replied, not at all amused.

They soon made their way over to Riku's house. They were quiet and took their time. They took a long, empty route. Riku didn't want to run into anyone who could cause trouble, even if the kids he knew at the ice cream store hadn't cared.

_Maybe I'm paranoid, _he thought to himself.

And instead of taking ten minutes, it took twenty minutes to reach the older boy's house. It wasn't a big deal. They still had plenty of time.

"I want to call Aeris and see if I can stay." Sora said, once they got in. "She's the one in charge of this stuff."

"Go ahead." Riku replied. "The phone's by the kitchen." He vaguely motioned toward the kitchen. "See it?"

"Yeah, I see it." Riku locked the door behind him as Sora made the call. As the boy came back, Riku noticed that he still had that ugly tracker on his arm. He still didn't understand how Sora could stand even the thought of have something like that attached to him.

"I want to see your room, Riku!" Riku twitched. That sounded _so_ wrong. And… coming from Sora?

Riku twitched again.

Rather than say something about that, he said, "Sure!"

"Lead the way, Riku!"

"I just want to warn you that it's not very clean." Riku said as he opened the door to his room. As they walked in, Riku could see a look on Sora's face that was either shock or horror.

The room was spotless.

"Wow." The younger boy said, finally.

"Sora…?"

"I didn't think it would even be a little clean."

"… Wait, what?"  
--

They spent almost an hour laying on Riku's (non-brick-like) bed talking about… nothing.

"I really like your room."

"You've said that three times already."

"I know." Sora said, with a sigh. He lazily flopped over on his side. "We should eat soon." He smiled. "I'm hungry and need to leave in… an hour and a half."

Riku got up. "We should get started then." Sora nodded and began to speak. "Shh. Listen." They both were quiet for a moment; it sounded like the front door was opening. "That's weird… I thought my parents were working late again tonight." Sora cocked his head to the side.

"Ri--"

"Stay there for a moment." The older boy walked out and closed the door behind him, leaving Sora alone.

--

"You're home early." Riku said, ever the observant one.

"You know, some kids say 'welcome home!'." Riku's mom replied, taking off her jacket.

"Did you get into trouble?" His dad asked, automatically.

"…That's nice, and no." The boy responded flatly. There was a short, awkward silence before Riku decided to speak up again. "I have a friend over for dinner."

"You cooking?" His mom asked.

"Sure."

"It's fine with me, then."

Riku ran his fingers through his hair. "Yeah, well, I wasn't asking you." Observant _and_ loving. "He's… he's the guy I take care of at the insane asylum."

His parents both stopped.

"What?" They asked, almost in unison.

"He's not violent or anything, and he's… nice."

"Did you sneak him out?" His dad asked.

"He's allowed to be out." Riku explained. "He's healthy enough. He's nice and… you'll… like him." For some reason, that last part was hard to get out.

"Well… I'd like to meet him." His mom said. "It'll be nice."

"Or--" His dad started, interrupted by a hard nudge in the ribs.

"It'll be _nice._" His mom repeated.

"I'll go get him." Riku made his way back to his room and peeked his head in. "Sora? My parents are home early. They want to meet you."

"Really?" Sora asked. "Do they really want to meet me?"

"Of course!"

Sora got up from the bed and they began walking down the hall. The young boy abruptly stopped. "What is it?" Riku was afraid that Sora was going to have a panic attack. _Not now. _Riku thought. _Please, don't freak out now._

"I'm nervous." Once Sora said that, Riku realized that he was nervous as well. He wanted his parents to like Sora. _Why wouldn't they? _He thought. _He's so nice… God. Why do I care about what my parents think of him? _He shook his head.

"Come on. It'll be fine."

--

Sora and Riku both made dinner. Riku's mom leaned over the counter and asked Sora embarrassing and shameless questions (as mothers do) until they finished.

"I didn't know you cook." Riku commented, idly to Sora.

"I didn't know either." Sora replied.

As they sat down to eat, Riku's dad joked, "Did you poison it?"

"I doubt he did!" Riku's mom said, almost to herself. "I mean, he was cooking with Sora--that's your name, right?-- and I don't think he'd allow it. He's too sane." Riku smacked his hand against his forehead and Sora began to laugh.

"I should have." Riku muttered.

As they sat down, to his horror, Riku's mom asked: "Is this the first time you've been away from the asylum?"

"Mom!" Riku tried to remain inconspicuous as he shook his head.

"What?" His mom asked, innocently. He could have sworn his parents did those things to him on purpose. Asking Sora personal questions like that…!

"I don't mind, Riku." Sora said, then, "This is the longest I've been away." He proceeded to explain the system to Riku's parents.

Sora seemed especially cheerful and talkative that night; even when they talked about things that Riku didn't even ask Sora until recently.

Something about being around a family-- even if it wasn't _his_, brought out something in his patient that he had never seen before.

Riku kind of liked it.

--

"Your parents are nice." Sora said as they walked back to the asylum. Riku grunted. The boy smiled and put his arms around Riku's waist as they walked. "Don't forget how lucky you are."

Riku never even thought of it that; at least he _had_ a family, even if he saw them just a little and they were completely _nuts_ and _annoying. _Sora hadn't even seen his once since he was little.

"We're here." Sora said, once they reached the asylum.

"Yeah."

"You don't have to walk me to my room; I can go." Riku noted how Sora refused to call his cell just that. It was sweet and almost sad how he called it his room.

"I want to go with you."

Sora smiled. "I'm glad."

It still seemed to soon when they made it to the cell.

"I had fun." Sora said.

"We sound like we're dating." Riku replied, smiling and rolling his eyes. "Sora?" He asked, a minute later.

"Yeah?"

He'd been meaning to ask this all day. "Are you going to be my boyfriend?"

Sora cocked his head to the side. "Are you…asking me to be?"

Riku paused and thought for a moment. "I guess I am."

Sora smiled. "Then we are."

That night, Riku had a real reason to be thinking of Sora.


	10. Riku's probably nuts, too

**Note: **Eee! This story is almost over-- can you believe it? I was kind of happy at first, but I got a sudden BURST of inspiration today, and I ended up adding another chapter to my plan. I hope any more bursts of inspiration come before this story ends. So, this chapter is a real short one, but the rest until the end should be pretty long.

For some reason, I'm _really _hesitant about posting this. This chapter is pretty uneventful in the middle. (What else is new:p)

_Insane Asylum  
chapter 10_

Riku took his time getting back home that night. For some reason, he felt tired and drained. _It was a long day. _He thought to himself. _I'll get to bed as soon as I get home… _He yawned. As weary as he felt, he was very pleased with how the day went. Plus, he and Sora were now "official." He smiled and begin to walk faster as the rain began to pour.

He made it home somewhat quickly. After he started getting cold he broke into a run. The lights were off in the house, so the boy assumed his parents were asleep. He quietly made his way into his room. He felt edgy, suddenly, but he couldn't figure out why. _How weird… _He thought as he lay down on his bed and fell asleep.

He had nightmares the whole night long. He awoke the next morning groggy and on edge. He was just glad that the week was almost over.

As he walked to school, Riku couldn't stop thinking of the strange dreams he had had. He recalled these horrible creatures, bodies pitch black and eyes glowing, rising from the ground. Tens of hundreds of them…

It's not as if he hadn't had stranger dreams but, for some reason, this one just seemed to linger in his mind for the rest of the day.

He fell asleep in class for the first time in a few months.

"Um… are you okay?" The teacher asked. "Do you need to see the nurse?"

God bless substitutes.

"Yeah, I do." Riku said, taking his backpack and leaving.

--

"You look tired today, Riku." Sora observed that afternoon.

"I had the _weirdest _dreams last night." Riku replied, sitting down at the table and beginning to do his homework. "I got the worst night of sleep."

"I hope you feel better."

"I do too," Somehow, that simple exchange of words seemed… _off _to Riku. They were officially boyfriends now. Why didn't they use dumb pet names? Why weren't they giddy? God damn it, where were the fireworks? "…honey."

Sora looked up. "_Whaaat_?"

"I said… 'I do too, lun… bee'." Riku said, then flinched. What the hell was "lun bee"?

"That makes sense." Sora said, sincerely. The older boy got up from his chair and sat on Sora's bed. He pulled his patient into a tight embrace and they sat like that for a long time. Sora shifted until their faces were near. He then pressed their lips together for a short amount of time.

There was an awkward silence.

"Um…thanks." Riku said, finally. _The hell? _He thought afterward. _Thanks?_

"No problem." Sora said, cocking his head to the side.

Riku paused, then said, "I think we have a problem here."

"You can't break up with me already!" The younger boy panicked.

"No!" Riku said, panicking as well. "I can't! I'm not. It's just that… it's weird now."

"It is, isn't it?" Sora agreed. "But nothing's changed."

"What?"

"We're both the same. The only difference is that now we have the word 'boy' attached to the word 'friend' when we're referring to each other." Riku didn't respond. "…Right?"

"I guess you're right." He said, finally.

Sora grinned. "I wish you'd say that more often. Now do your homework."

--

"Sora?" Riku asked as he finished up his math. The younger boy perked up. He had been quiet for quite some time.

"Hm?"

"When you…you know. Have episodes…"

"Yeah?"

"What exactly do you _see_? I don't think you've ever told me."

Sora didn't reply right away. He sat thinking for a minute. "What do I see…" He echoed. "I see these weird… black creatures with glowing eyes. They come in all different shapes, forms, and sizes. I get this horrible feeling when I think about them. There's a name for them… I can't think of it."

Riku shivered. Were those the same creatures he saw in _his _dream? _But it's so traditional horror. _Riku thought. _It's not like it means something. _He shook his head. _Black creatures with glowing eyes? Not exactly original! _"What's wrong, Riku?"

"What's wrong?" Riku asked, confused. "I was just thinking."

"Oh." Sora said. "Sorry. It looked like you were upset." Riku shook his head again. He wasn't upset about anything. …Was he?

"Anyway, I guess it does sound scary."

"It is." The young boy replied. "I don't know why it scares me as much as it does. Everyone says it's not real, so you think I'd figure it must just be me. But… I don't know. No one has any way of knowing, do they?"

They were quiet until long after Riku finished his homework. "I've been worried about you lately, Riku." Riku couldn't help but smile when his boyfriend said his name that childish way. I reminded him of when they had first met, and how innocent and strange Sora had seemed.

"Why would you be worried?" The older boy asked.

"I don't know." Replied Sora. "I can't explain. But…I feel so strongly about it. It's weird."

"Nothing's going to happen." The older boy tried to assure his patient, though he felt uneasy as well.

--

"It's cold in here." Sora said, sometime later. Riku hadn't noticed until then that it _was _getting cold.

"It is." He agreed. "Is it always this cold in the wintertime?" The younger boy shook his head.

"The heater hasn't kicked in yet, I bet. It will tonight, probably."

"I hope so."

They were quiet again; both lost in their own thoughts.

"Yesterday was really fun, Riku." Sora said, finally, just to start a conversation again.

"Yeah. We should do it again. I guess we can't get ice cream again though. Too cold."

"Yeah." Sora agreed.

Most. Uneventful. Day. Ever.

--

Another day passed. Riku hadn't had anymore nightmares, and he was feeling more like himself.

Still fell asleep in class, though.

"This is your first detention in quite a while." The principal said to Riku that day. "I'd call in late for work if I were you."

Lunch had passed, so it was too late to serve during lunch break. Riku sighed. _I hope Sora won't get worried. He's been really weird lately._

As soon as he was set free from school, he ran to the asylum.

Sora looked fine when he got in, but he decided to just make sure.

"Hey Sora." He said. "Everything alright?"

"You're late." The younger boy replied, yawning. "I was worried." He didn't sound worried, but Riku chose not to point it out.

"You look tired."

Sora nodded. "I am. Ansem," he spat out the name. "gave me new medication. I was up all night." _Kicking and screaming, no doubt. _Riku thought. He didn't mean it in a mocking way. "And… I don't know. It's really wearing me out." He yawned again. "Sucks…" He muttered. "Sit by me, will you, Riku?"

And he did, until the boy fell asleep. He began to do his homework and sat back my Sora's side every time the younger boy stirred.

For some reason, the whole thing seemed odd to Riku. "I wonder if he gave me these medications to tire me out on purpose." Sora said. The older boy jumped. He hadn't known his patient was awake.

"Sora… that…" Riku didn't want to call Sora stupid for saying that, but the idea was ridiculous. "That's… a weird idea."

Sora snorted and went back to sleep.

--

After Sora was asleep for a long while, Riku wondered if Sora really had been poisoned or something. He had never seen his patient so tired.

Of course, it _had_ been a long month. Going outside, using the shower instead of the bath, and the two of them "hooking up" most of taken their toll on the younger boy. Riku decided that's why he, himself, was jumpy a few days prior.

It sure beat thinking that he was going crazy as well.

--

Sora snorted and tossed and turned in his sleep. It seemed odd to Riku-- Sora, for the most part, was usually very calm while he slept.

_He's just adjusting to the new medication, _Riku thought. _Everyone is tired and getting worked up over nothing for no reason. _He rolled his eyes and went back to his homework.

At one point, Sora shouted, suddenly, still deep in sleep. Riku jumped, but quickly regained himself.

"I'm just glad he doesn't sleepwalk…" He muttered, shaking his head.

Suddenly, the younger boy sat up and said, clearly, "…not true, I---"

"…Sora?"

"Huh?"

"What was _that_?"

The young boy blinked. "I woke up mid-sentence. That was weird…"

"Oh, look." Riku said, changing the subject without meaning to. "It's time for dinner already."

--

As they ate, the crapperteria seemed oddly empty.

"…Or am I the only one noticing?" Riku asked.

"It DOES seem empty, Riku." Sora replied. "But… I don't notice anyone missing."

The older-- and no longer saner-- boy shook his head. "Weird." He said.

--

The rest of the week was just as odd.

First of all, at school, Riku hardly saw his arch enemies. That didn't happen a lot. He found out, after noticing he hadn't seen them at _all_, that they were just…gone. It wasn't that he hadn't seen them.

He asked around a bit until he found out what had happened: Nero had gotten pneumonia. Kai had broken his leg.

More strangeness at school-- he was actually able to pay attention in class.

Personal victory.

Sora stayed jumpy and weird. He was reacting oddly to the medication, but he didn't seem to be ill. Riku stayed jumpy and weird as well-- but he didn't have anything to blame it on.

_Damn tiring month. _Riku thought. He was 100 percent positive that that was the cause of it all.

All he could do was hope that things would return to normal soon.

--

The boys talked more than usual that night.

"How's school?" Sora asked-- he asked that whenever the conversation died a little. He yawned. "Anyone planning any conspiracies against you?" He looked tired.

"No." Riku said. Aside from Nero and Kai, Riku wasn't really picked on. He wasn't the most popular kid in school, he didn't have the largest circle of friends. But he was pretty well-liked, had had some girlfriends… "Nero and Kai are both in the hospital."

Sora perked up, just slightly. "Really? What happened?" Riku couldn't read the expression on his boyfriend's face.

"Nero got pneumonia, Kai broke his leg. I don't know-- it was really weird. They were just…gone." Sora nodded. "Not that I'm complaining, but…" Sora shrugged.

"As long as they're okay, I guess… right?"

Riku was a little surprised. After the three of them--Sora, Kai, and Nero-- had met, the latter two had been so mean to him. And Sora still hoped that everything was alright with them. The older boy smiled and pulled his patient into his arms. They were quiet, and Sora fell back asleep.

This time, he was peaceful.

--

The next day was Saturday. The phone rang at 8AM-- early for the weekend.

"Who the hell would be calling?" Riku asked himself, getting out of bed and getting the phone.

"Hello?" He asked.

"Is this Ri--" Asked the voice on the other end.

"Yes." Riku interrupted, impatiently.

"I work at the mental asylum." The voice was slightly familiar, but Riku couldn't figure out why. Usually if anyone from the asylum called, it was Aeris. "I've called to tell you that your service no longer necessary. Thank you." The person hung up. For a moment, stunned, Riku just listened to the dial tone. No one had even hinted that his time was almost up. Not the principal at school, not any of the workers when he was at the asylum. For all he knew, it was just a prank by some friend, some kid at school.

Slightly unnerved, Riku decided he'd go to the asylum later and get everything sorted out. He just knew his time wasn't up.

--

**The young boy blinked. "I woke up mid-sentence. That was weird."**

Just curious: does that ever happen to anyone else? You're dreaming, wake up mid-sentence, and but finish the sentence when you wake up? It happened to me once and it was really weird.


	11. Warning

**note: **Gee! This story officially isn't "safe" anymore. I don't know what happened but I think I'm taking a tiny unexpected "dark"-ish spin. Things are getting weird. Ansem's turning out to be one shady character (as you'll see). I didn't plan for that to even happen. I'm worried for these characters and I'm the one writing about them! I sound like a horrible author. But really, this has all been carefully planned, etc. Also, note that this is the only chapter to start out with Sora. I kinda like it.

Anyway, enough of my rambling.

The feedback was, of course, lovely and it's nice to know that everyone does the waking up mid-sentence thing. I asked my friends about it after I did it and they thought I was insane. Ha ha! Okay, okay.

**Janchan**, thanks for pointing that out. I never thought to address that… I think sometimes I forget that know one else knows what's going on in my mind. Hmm. I should figure out how to work in an explanation. I never meant for it to be something big enough to explain--just kind of cute how it got switched from the game. (Well, I think it's cute…)

Last thing-- if anything comes off as Kairi-bashing… I don't mean for it to. It just came out that way. (I actually like her.)

SORRY FOR THE LONG NOTE, ALL.

_Insane Asylum  
Chapter 11_

The first thing Sora noticed when he woke up that morning was the bright light hanging over his head. He then shifted around a little and realized he wasn't on his bed. He wasn't even in his cell. He looked around as his eyes adjusted. The room he was in looked like Ansem's medical room. He tried to sit up, but as he did, a sharp pain shot up his back. He tried to sit up again, slower this time. He regretted looking around.

Everything around him looked like it came from some horror movie. Around him were many of the tools used in "treatment" nightmares that he had only heard about before. He felt cold, and nothing he did could stop his shivering. The only explanation he could come up with was that they were going to perform surgery. But… why? Surely, if anything like that should need to happen, they would take Sora to a hospital.

And the sight of the ice pick at the table nearest him was almost too much to handle. _No, _Sora thought. _In this day and age, they wouldn't… _He knew that somehow, Ansem was involved with this. No one else would have let this happen.

No one was around. He slowly lowered himself from the operating table, and ran.

--

Riku rushed to the asylum the next morning in all due haste. _If I can't work here anymore, I can at least visit, right? _He thought, frantically. _How did this happen? Was I horrible to Sora? _

He ran straight through the doors and collided into Kairi.

"Ow! Watch it, you--"

"Kairi." Riku said. "Where's Aeris?"

"Didn't you hear?" She asked, getting up and straightening her skirt. "She got fired." Riku was quiet for a moment.

"Fired…?"

Kairi nodded. "A bunch of people were. Except that doctor guy…what was his name? Ansem?"

Riku fell quiet again. "I have to see Sora."

"You can't." She said. "I'm sorry. He got moved a few floors up. You're not allowed to visit patients on _that _floor."

"…What…?"

"If it makes you feel any better, I feel bad too." She shrugged. "I never saw it coming."

"I'm going to go see him." Riku said suddenly. "You know where his room is?" He even adopted Sora's term for his cell.

"…Yeah. But… I don't know about this…" Riku ignored the girl and grabbed her arm.

"Show me where it is."

--

It was a long, steep flight of stairs to get to the fourth floor.

"If we get caught," Kairi said, as she went to unlock Sora's cell, "I had nothing to do with this."

"Fine."

"I can't believe I'm doing this. I'm not supposed to be up here. I'm not supposed to have keys…"

"Just be quiet and unlock the door." Riku urged, getting impatient.

"Fine, fine." The door opened. "Here." Kairi didn't walk into the cell, and neither did Riku. "Well?"

"After you."

"I don't want to see him." Kairi said after a few moments. "I couldn't take it."

"What's the big deal?" Riku asked himself, stepping into Sora's new room.

…It couldn't even be called a room, by any definition. It was even smaller than his previous cell. Aside from Sora, there was nothing in it. At least his last one had a bed. It even had that bathroom area.

Sora himself looked terrible. He was in a straitjacket, sopping wet. There was a scratch on his cheek.

"What _happened_?" Kairi asked before Riku could even open his mouth. He was too stunned to say anything.

"Sora…?" The older boy felt guilty, but he didn't know why.

"Riku," He said, tiredly. "Kair…"

"What the hell?" Riku asked, looking at Kairi.

"I don't know. They moved him because they said he was acting violent. That he wasn't safe to be around. Something like that."

"How…?" Riku shook his head and sat on his knees, next to Sora. "What happened? Who did this?"

"I don't know." Sora said. "I woke up Ansem's medical room, I think... But there was weird equipment all around."

Kairi looked up. "There _was _an operating room once… but it was chained up over forty years ago. Surgery like that… that's not even legal."

Riku tensed up.

"They didn't do anything to you, did they?" He asked.

"I don't know." Sora replied. "I don't think so. I feel alright. I mean, I almost got lobotomized… but I'm alright."

"That's not funny." Kairi said. "If that's true… I'm kind of scared.."

Sora and Riku exchanged glances. "Why would you be scared?" Riku asked nervously. He felt uneasy about everything, but when an _employee _was worried, something was definitely wrong. On the other hand, Kairi could have been exaggerating.

But Riku didn't even consider that.

"Everyone is getting fired and replaced by people who really creep me out. Sora could have been killed today. And why is he even in here? He was progressing so fast."

"I was?" Sora asked.

"…And what's wrong with your face?"

The boy looked offended for a brief moment.

"I think she means the scratch." Riku explained.

"Oh. I don't know about that either." He shook his head. "Sorry I'm not much help."

"I hate to admit it…" Riku said, after a moment, "But I don't feel good about this."

"I'm worried." Sora said, simply. "Erm… could someone get me out of this jacket?"

"Right." Riku replied. "I'll try and help."

"I don't know about this, you guys." Kairi, always needing to be the voice of reason (or useless concern), interjected.

"I'm taking the blame for this all, remember?" The older boy asked.

"Then let's get him out."

Good old Kairi.

--

"Tell us everything you remember." Kairi said. They were still in the cell, but had gotten Sora out of the strait jacket.

"The new medication makes me really drowsy so… I don't know a lot of details." _Damn. _Riku thought. _He was right. The medications were supposed to make him tired._ "Last night they said they were going to change my room. Everything from there is blurry, until I woke up on an operating table. I ran out and another doctor caught me. I guess I was in hysterics… He just said he'd take me back to my cell. And he brought me here. I remember being in this weird tub of water. I had something heavy over me. I couldn't move. I don't remember when that happened. God, I'm still wet and I'm getting kind of cold." Riku quickly wrapped his arms around the young boy.

"In… I don't want to say the olden days, but alright," Kairi started, hesitating to get to the point, as usual, "They used to do weird things like that. I don't know what good people thought it did." He put her head in her hands. "First everyone gets fired. Then Sora wakes in the operating room which has been chained for _years… _Sora… what was in the operating room? Are you sure that was even what is was?"

Sora shrugged. "I was on this weird iron table and there was a light above my head.. There was an ice pick on the table next to me…that's the only thing in the room I could recognize." Riku felt dizzy upon hearing that. He didn't even want to think about what might have happened to his boyfriend. Kairi looked like she was going to pass out. "I woke up sore… I don't know what anyone already did to me." Like a light bulb turning on in their heads, they both knew exactly who Sora meant by "anybody".

"Now, let's get to the bottom of this." Kairi said.

"We need to get him out of here. We all need to get out of here." Riku said, suddenly.

"But how? The security's increased, too." The girl asked.

They were quiet. They seriously needed to think this out. "We should jump out the window."

Riku raised his eyebrow. "On the fourth floor?"

"…You're right. New plan." Neither of them noticed how quiet Sora had fallen until he spoke up again.

"What's the point? I'm not getting out of here. There are too many people working here to stop me from doing just that. I'm tired from the meds."

"But you were right the whole time!" Riku exclaimed. "Ansem's up to…something."

"What if something _had _happened and you died…?" Kairi asked, quietly.

Sora shrugged. "I wouldn't be seeing any of these horrible things anymore." They were all quiet. Sora shook his head. "I don't know what I'm talking about. It's got to be the meds…" He smiled, trying to turn his disturbing comment into a joke. "Where's Aeris?" He asked, suddenly. "What can she--"

"She got fired." Riku said, bluntly.

The boy looked upset for a moment, though not surprised. "Squall too." He said. It was the first time he had called the man by his real name.

"Yeah."

"Maybe I could call Aeris." Kairi said, suddenly. "She'll know what to do." The boys both perked up. "Her number should still be in the records somewhere, though it'd be on the first floor. I'll go--"

"I'll go." Riku said sternly, standing up. "You stay with Sora."

"No." The girl replied, equally as stern. "I know where it is. If anyone comes for Sora… you're stronger than me. You could handle it."

"_I_ could handle it." Sora interjected.

"I'll be quick."

Riku shook his head. "I wouldn't feel right."

"We just have to keep reminding ourselves that this could be nothing. Sora could have dreamt the whole thing." She added, before Sora could argue, "I don't think he did, but who knows. We're overreacting. I'm not in danger." She turns to leave. "I'll be back once I get the number. I'll call after I check with you, if it worries you that much." She turned again, flashed a reassuring smile, and left.

--

The two boys didn't think much of it after she didn't come back after a short while. A few minutes passed. Five minutes. Ten minutes. Fifteen.

"What's taking her so long?" Sora asked, voicing both of their concern. Riku just shrugged. He couldn't help but feel that this was all some strange dream that he would soon wake up from. "I know that Kairi's said this a thousand times, but…"

"This is surreal." Riku finished.

"I just keep thinking , 'how did they increase the security in a course of a few hours?' Why did I get moved up here? Why fire Aeris? Why after she's been working here for so long? Why Squall?"

"I got fired too." The older boy said, just suddenly remembering again. Sora buried his head in his hands.

"Kairi… where _are _you?"

She returned soon after Sora's desperate question. She apologized for taking so long, then waved the scrap of paper the number had been written on.

"I just wanted to check in with you two." She said with a grin. "To see how everything's going… I knew I was taking a long time. For some reason, the people with all of the worker's records wouldn't let me have the number."

Sora asked, hesitantly, "Did you--"

"I got Squall's number too, if that's what you're asking."

The young boy jumped up and threw his arms around the girl. "You read my mind." He said.

"I need to make the calls, though, so--"

"I'll do it." Riku interrupted. "You got the numbers, I'll make the calls."

"But aren't the phones for employees only?" Sora asked Kairi. She thought for a moment.

"I don't know." She said, honestly.

The older boy shrugged. "If it is, then I'll come and get you. I'm going this time… can't let Kairi do all the work." He grinned as while, trying to joke.

"Fine." Kairi replied. As Riku turned to leave, she added, "But if you get your butt kicked out of here that's totally your fault." She smiled and laughed. Riku was relieved to hear the sound-- laughing was much better than worrying.

Riku didn't have the patience for the elevator. He ran down the corridor, where arrows on signs that read 'stairs' pointed toward a small, closed door. He turned the door's knob, hoping that it wasn't locked.

It wasn't.

Carefully, he ran down the four steep flights of stairs. He took a moment to catch his breath, opened the lobby door, and scanned the room for the phone. It was sitting right on the desk he had passed every day since he had began working at the asylum. There was no one there, so he picked up the receiver in all due haste.

The phone wasn't working. That was one thing Riku could make sense of-- some telephone cables had been broken during the storm a week or so ago. He had heard some news reports that maintenance crews were having trouble repairing them. He rushed back over to the stairs, just as the person whom he assumed that desk belonged to returned. _Screw it. _He thought. He quickly walked to where he remembered the elevator being.

Just as he had pressed the down button, the doors flew open. "Woah!" He cried, startled. "Kairi… you scared the shit out of me." The girl didn't reply. "Wait… what happened? Where's Sora?"

"I got kicked out." She replied, finally, stepping out of the elevator. She put her hand up to her face and, for a moment, Riku couldn't tell if she was crying or not. She wasn't. "This guy came in and said I needed to get out and he kicked me out… He said I was never allowed on that floor. I don't know… for some reason it really scared me at the time." Riku didn't reply. "Do you think Sora is safe here?"

"I don't know anymore."

"HEY!" An unfamiliar voice. Startled, Riku and Kairi turned around.

Security. "Get out of here!"

Riku glanced at the girl for a moment, unsure. "I work here. So does she." The security man raised an eyebrow.

"Are either of you eighteen?"

"Well… no."

"Then you're out." He said. "Any workers under eighteen have been dismissed." Kairi's eyes widened. She nervously played with a button on her blouse.

"What's going on?" Riku shouted, suddenly. "I was doing _fine _here, so was Kairi! Everyone we know who was working here is _gone. _What the hell are you all doing?" The man didn't reply. He grabbed Riku's arm with one hand, Kairi's with another, then swiftly-- and literally-- threw them out.

They landed on the cold cement, hard. Dirt and dust now stained Kairi's white uniform. Riku's jeans ripped over the knee, where they came in contact and rubbed against the ground. They sat for a moment, unmoving, quiet.

Slowly, what just happened hit them.

"Oh my _God_!" Kairi screamed. The boy winced.

"Now, if you scream a little louder, the _whole town will hear you!_" He shouted, though not as loud as his co-worker. Well, now, ex-co-coworker.

"What are we going to do?" The girl asked, regaining herself. Riku shrugged.

"I still think we should call Aeris and Squall. We can go back to my house and use the phone there."

"What about Sora?"

"I don't know. We'll figure it out." Riku assured.

"We have to remember that Sora _is _insane. He really could have imagined all of the operating stuff up. I mean… it could be nothing, right?" Kairi asked, more to herself than to Riku.

"Yeah. It could be nothing." Riku said, more to himself than to Kairi.

It was beginning to rain.

--

It seemed like it took years to get to Riku's house for the two teens. Once they arrived, Riku hurriedly fumbled with the key and threw the door open. Kairi followed him to the phone. Her hands were shaking uncontrollably as she searched through the pocket on her jacket.

"You'd better have the numbers after all of this." The boy muttered.

"I do. I do. I_ have _to." It took her a moment, but she found it. "I got it!"

"We'll call Aeris first." As Kairi began to reach for the phone, he said, "I'll call. You call Squall… I assume he knows you better than he knows me."

"I don't know him that well."

Not the point.

As Riku picked up the receiver and dialed the number, he could only hope that the woman would be home. The phone rang, but…nothing. No sign of Aeris.

"Nothing?" Kairi asked after a moment. Riku shook his head. "Try Squall. See if you can reach him." The boy absently nodded, already dialing the number. "If he's not there…"

"Panic." Riku filled in.

"Hello?" The boy was startled to hear a voice on the other end. It was a male voice, though it didn't sound exactly like Squall's. He wasn't sure if it was just the phone distorting the voice.

"Is this Squall?"

"No." The voice said. "I'll get him."

"Is he there?" Kairi asked.

"Shh." Riku nodded, but waved his hand, signaling for her to be quiet. She walked close to the receiver, trying to pick up pieces of the conversation. She flinched when Riku spoke. "Hello?"

"Who is this?" The ever-irritated voice was obviously Squall's.

"This is Riku."

"…"

"From the asylum."

"…"

"You know. We both worked with Sora."

"…"

"Great. We--Kairi and I-- were wondering why you got fired."

The man finally spoke up. "I was only sent to work for a year or so. My time ran out. I haven't decided f I want to continue working there or not." That was the most he had ever spoken to either of the teens. It quite possibly could have been the most he had ever spoken in his life at one time.

"Well, if you want my opinion--" Riku started. Kairi took a hold of the phone.

"You have to work there!" She shouted. Riku shoved her and took the phone back.

"Aaaanyway. I think you should continue working there. I know Sora was really attached to you. You probably had a lot of people to take care of, I know, but Sora needed you. Think about it."

He hung up.

"Why didn't you just tell him what was going on?" The girl asked. Riku shrugged.

"I don't think us freaking out on him will affect his decision." Kairi's shoulders slumped.

"Should we at least try calling Aeris again, then?"

"Of course."

This time, the phone rang twice before she picked up. "Hello?"

"Is this Aeris?"

"Yes." Said the voice on the other end of the line. "Who is this?"

"This is Riku.' The woman began to start some small talk, but Riku cut her off. "Were you fired from the asylum?"

"…Yes." Aeris replied, after a few moments' hesitation. "Why do you ask?"

"Kairi and I did, too."

There was silence on Aeris's line. "And Squall. And Sora got moved to a room upstairs. He's looking bad."

Finally, the woman spoke up again. "Do you know about the other patients?" Riku shook his head, forgetting Aeris wouldn't see him.

"I don't." He said.

"Odd…" She replied. "I'm scheduled go to a meeting this Saturday, and I'm asking why I got fired. I'll bring this all up."

"Thanks."

"No problem, Riku." The dial tone came so suddenly Riku wasn't sure if she had hung up, or if the call had been dropped. _Now I'm getting paranoid. _Riku thought, rolling his eyes.

"So…?" Kairi asked, anxiously.

"She's meeting with some people this weekend to ask about all this stuff." Riku explained.

"That's too long a wait." She said simply. Riku nodded in agreement. "So what do we do?"

Riku said, as if it were so simple, "We get back in and go see Sora."

-

…**It couldn't even be called a room, by any definition. **Yes, I know that it doesn't work that way.

For some reason it was REALLY hard to write Riku's dialogue and such at the end of the chapter. :\ I'm kind of hesitatn about posting this chapter...but, then, I was with the last few, too, so I'm probably just being weird.


	12. Living Nightmare & the Resolution

-1Note: I'm thinking about editing and extending some of the previous chapters… they're so short. Should I bother? Also, obviously, I've been using KH1!Ansem. This story seems so old school with KH2 out and all. Well, that's what I get for taking too long to update. I was so hoping to make this a quick update, too. Sorry, everyone. It took me a while to start that, though I've been writing at least a page a day. But sometimes I just get way _too _tired. Finals, finals, finals and TESTS. XD And, still, I'd at least write a paragraph. I wonder why, then, these take so long to update…

But at least this chapter nice and long :D 17 pages, ya'll!

_Insane Asylum  
Chapter 12_

Trying to get back to the asylum, for Kairi and Riku, was like being a stuck in a nightmare-- the kind where you're just trying to get somewhere, but you just can't seem to be able to run. The first obstacle was the early arrival home from work of Riku's parents.

"Mom… Dad…" Riku stuttered. He and Kairi were just about to open the door to leave when his parents came in. "You're home early!" The shock had even caused him to spew out a cliché line from possibly every teen movie ever made. _That _was not going to leave a good impression, with him and Kairi alone. However, he seemed to be the only one who even gave it a second thought. He always assumed that his parents would assume the worst. (Well, then at least _someone_ would believe that Riku was "doing it". Ah, the wonders of being a teen boy…)

"Who's your friend?" His mother asked.

"Kairi." He answered. "She worked at the asylum, too. Dad, they fired us."

"What?" His parents asked in unison.

"What did you _do?_" His dad asked.

"Nothing!" Riku shouted in response, suddenly emotional. "We didn't do _anything _and they _fired _us!"

"Did your time there just run out?" His mom asked, quietly this time.

"I was supposed to be working there for another few years." Kairi cut in. "So I don't think…"

"We'll talk to the school about it, anyway." Riku's father said, finally. His parents' lack of concern annoyed and unnerved Riku, though he didn't want to say a word about it.

"Well," He said, at last, "We were just going to leave. I'll be back for dinner."

"Don't forget your--"

They rushed out, closing the door before he could hear what his mom had to say.

He should have listened.

"What are you going to do without this job?" Kairi asked, as they began walking to the asylum.

"I don't know. The reason I was working there was punishment for misbehaving at school. I'll probably get a replacement job or they'll decide to end the punishment."

It was a bittersweet conversation. Riku wished that he _hadn't _wished that the job would end. "What about you?"

"I'll probably be assigned a new job." The girl answered.

Riku raised an eyebrow. "What did _you _do?"

Kairi smiled and shook her head. "I live in a girl's home. There's not too much money going around right now, so we all got jobs assigned to us. I was the last one given a job, so I worked at the asylum."

"A girl's home? Where are your parents?"

She shrugged. "Dead… I think. I don't know where my family is, really. I don't even remember how I got here. I was born somewhere else." Riku looked down as he continued to walk.

"But it's kind of like fate, isn't it?"

Kairi nodded. "Yeah. It is." Riku abruptly stopped walking. "What's wrong?"

"Look."

Obstacle two.

A large mob of people had crowded toward an area, blocking the shortest path to the asylum. In unison, the two teens ran to see what was going on.

"What happened?" Riku shouted, and kept shouting until someone finally answered his question.

Obstacle three.

"A car crashed into a tree." A woman finally said. _Again? _Was all Riku thought.

"We'll have to take the long way." Kairi said. "Come on."

"No." Riku said, shaking his head. "No. That'll take too long. I know another way." Kairi shook her head.

"No. This is the safest way." The looked at each other for a moment before, without even needing to say a word, reaching a decision.

Kairi bolted off one way, while Riku rushed off another way.

--

Riku arrived first. He didn't know how he even wound up at the asylum-- truth be told, he hadn't any clue what he had been doing. He was worried about Kairi-- she was taking a while to catch up.

Eventually she showed up, limping. "I tripped." She explained. "I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"Of course."

They walked in together and went up to the front desk.

"We're looking for Sora." Riku said.

"He isn't here." A maniacal, all-too-familiar voice replied.

Ansem.

Riku and Kairi both jumped.

"What?" Kairi asked.

"Where is he?"

"I wouldn't know." The man replied. "But I wouldn't run after him, if I were you. He's not safe to be around."

"When? How?" Riku didn't care if his questions made no sense.

"A few hours ago, when another doctor was trying to get him to the office. The boy attacked and simply… ran off."

"I'll find him." The silver-haired replied sharply, turning this into a challenge.

Kairi was silent the whole time.

"I would be careful if I were you," Ansem warned. "I wouldn't want anything unfortunate to happen to either of you." He turned and walked away.

"Bastard." Riku whispered to himself. He was shaking. "He did something, I know it. What if they hurt Sora?"

Kairi shook her head. "Sora… where would he go?"

They both knew, like a light bulb flickering in their minds.

"The park."

Kairi and Riku shouted the missing boy's name as they struggled to find the park while the sky's light was rapidly fading. It was beginning to rain, as well.

"Sora! Sora, please come out!" Kairi pleaded.

"If you hear us, say something!" Riku demanded. They both heard a small sound, but neither of them knew for sure if it was Sora.

"Do you think…?"

Riku shrugged. "I don't know. I guess we'll have to follow it and see."

Kairi agreed. "SORA!"

"Not. In. My. Ear!"

"Sorry."

They finally arrived at the park.

"Not a moment too soon." Kairi murmured.

"You guys!" Another familiar voice said, loudly. "Riku! Kairi!"

"Sora!" The teens both screamed, running and near tackling the boy.

"Are you okay?" The girl asked. "Are you hurt? How'd you get out? We saw Ansem but if he was lying then--"

"God, I never want to hear that name again." Sora replied, not at all being helpful.

"You won't have to." Riku replied, sternly.

"What?"

"You're not going back there. I'm making sure of it."

"Oh, Riku…" Sora leaned forward and the boys hugged, then kissed. "But how will we do that? I can fight my way out of it again if I have to, but then what?"

The three of them thought for a moment. Riku was the first to come up with a solution.

"Stay at my house." He said. "They don't know where I live, and you don't have the tracker on your arm, right?" Sora nodded.

Kairi nodded. "For now, that'll work."

"But I can't just _hide _forever." Sora argued.

"Sure you can!"

Riku shook his head. "No, Kairi… he has a point. Let's go to my house and discuss it there. It's freaking _cold _out here."

--

Halfway to Riku's house, Sora bolted off in the other direction.

"Sora…!"

Kairi and Riku made sure to follow. They ran past the now-clear sight where the car crashed into the trees, through the mud, and ignored the scratches they got from low, thin branches on trees. _Mom was probably going to tell me to bring a jacket. _Riku thought. _I wish I had listened. _Suddenly, he worried about his parents.

The fact that he was worried made him worry even more.

Sora ended up leading them back to the park.

"Sora, why are we back here?" Kairi asked, in that sickeningly sweet tone that neither boy had heard from her in a long time. She then shook here head. "Sorry." She said in a normal tone. She didn't need to talk to Sora like he was crazy anymore.

Not only had a strange, giant red object appeared in the sky, but those odd black creatures were rising out of the ground, everywhere, in plain sight. "Oh… my… God."

"I'm sorry I ever doubted you." Riku found himself repeating, over and over, to no one in particular.

"What do we do?" Kairi asked, slightly hysterical, but still pretty calm considering that monsters were popping out of the ground.

"I don't know." Sora replied, sounding nervous. "When I'd see this happening, in my dreams, or visions… I mean… at least I'd have a weapon."

Riku grabbed a branch that had fallen from a large tree and swung it at the monster. It flew at least a foot away, landing on the ground with a small thud. It squeaked, squirmed, and got back up. Kairi and Sora soon followed, beating the creatures over and over with anything they could find-- rocks, branches, and sticks; trash thrown carelessly on the ground by loiterers. Anything.

It had little effect.

"What do we do?" Kairi asked, after a while. The three of them were getting tired and had only destroyed a few of the little monsters.

"Go back to the asylum." Sora demanded, getting an odd, serious, adult-like tone to his voice. "Run."

"What about you?" Riku questioned. "You think we're leaving you here? And to the _asylum?_ Five minutes ago we said we'd never go back. You really _are _crazy."

"No one will bother you, I promise. Just… go now."

"Come on, Riku." Kairi pleaded. "Sora knows what he's doing." The older boy hesitated.

"Alright… just… be careful." He gave his boyfriend a short kiss before taking Kairi and leaving.

"Come on," Sora muttered. "This isn't the way it's supposed to happen." His eyes darted around. It fell quiet a few minutes earlier-- the rain fell heavier than ever, though the heartless began disappearing until their presence was almost completely gone. "I should have a weapon of _some _kind. Come on, come on…"

-

Riku and Kairi made it to the asylum quickly and safely.

"You really think Sora's going to be fine?" Riku asked after a long silence. Kairi simply nodded.

"I think he kind of knows what's happening." She replied. Riku nodded in return.

"Hurry up." He muttered anyway.

-

Sora was still wandering out by the park. "Come on, voice." He pleaded. "You talk to me all the time when I don't need it. You made people think I'm crazy. Now would be a _great_ time to tell me what I'm supposed to be doing, here…" After nothing but silence, he added, "You owe me."

"I wouldn't say that." He heard someone reply.

He grinned.

-

"Riku. Riku, look." Kairi said suddenly.

"What?"

"Out the window. Is that Sora?"

Riku scrambled to the window.

"No." He said. "It doesn't look like it…"

"It's Leon, I think." Kairi said, squinting and pressing her face to the glass. "What would he be doing here?"

It was still a relief when the man rushed through the door. The asylum was eerily empty, and it seemed the only other people there were locked up, across the hall.

"Is Sora alright?" He asked, urgently.

"Fine." Kairi answered quickly. "Not _here_, but fine."

"What are you talking about?"

"He's at the park." Riku replied.

"What is he doing there?"

The boy just shook his head.

"He'll be fine, he knows what's going on, he knows what to do."

"He knows what to _do? _Does he have something to do with the creatures running around everywhere?"

Riku and Kairi's eyes shot up at Squall/Leon. "What?" They both asked, almost in unison.

"Everywhere…?" The girl repeated. "You mean they're like… roaming through the whole city?" The man solemnly nodded.

"Why'd you come _here_?" Riku asked.

Squall was quiet for a moment. "I don't know. I just… knew I had to be here."

"What do you mean?" The girl asked quietly.

"Something told me that Sora had some significance in all this."

-

"Great." The boy said, now inadvertently walking in circles. "Now that you're talking to me again… what do I do?"

"What do you think?"

"I don't know. This is completely different than what I'd dream about. I had a weapon, I couldn't find Riku and Kairi. I have no way to fight, but at least I know where they are."

"Are you sure?"

--

"I can't take it." Riku said, finally. "He's been out so long…"

"I thought you trusted him." Squall replied, without missing a beat.

"I do. I'm just worried."

No one said anything. There was a long silence before the door slammed open, and slammed shut again. Everyone jumped.

"What was that?!" Kairi shrieked.

"I'm sorry. It was just me."

Aeris.

There was a collective sigh. "God, you _scared _me." Kairi breathed, putting a hand on her chest. "I'm so jumpy."

"I'm going to go find him." Riku said, suddenly, more to himself than to anyone else.

"Are you insane? With those…things running around out there?"

"I'm going to go find him." The boy repeated.

"No, you're not." Everyone else said, in almost complete unison.

"Don't any of you care?" Riku shouted. "I don't know what the hell is going on here! Sora's running around somewhere all alone! There are goddamn _monsters _ coming out of the _ground_! Sora could be in danger. Everyone could be in danger. And you're all standing around saying that it's the right thing to do! I'm sick of it. You know what? I don't think this is the right thing to do. I think this is a stupid thing to do!"

"Are you through?" Squall replied, after a moment.

"Yeah. Pretty much."

No one else said a word. Of course they had all thought about that. But what was a normal supposed to do in a rather…odd situation like this? Throw a karaoke party? And, although Riku's outburst voiced everyone's unsaid opinion, there was simply nothing they could think to do.

"I agree." Aeris said finally. Everyone turned to look at her, not expecting that response. "We should all be together. I think Riku should go and bring Sora back here. We can decide what to do after that."

And with that, Riku darted out of there, out to find his boyfriend.

It was even harder still to find Sora out in the rain. It was darker than ever and the wind began to pick up, sending some small trees to the ground. Riku had no idea what he was going to do. Surely Sora hadn't stayed in the same spot this whole time.

_Please be okay. _The silver-haired boy started thinking, suddenly. _Please be okay. Just stay put. Let me find you._ He could only hope that somehow, in some magical way, Sora had telepathically received Riku's thoughts. It sounded impossible…but that night, it seemed as though anything could happen.

--

"Nothing, huh?" Sora asked himself, after a while. The voice had stopped talking to him a while ago, and he was left wandering around the wreckage that was once a park. The heartless has disappeared, suddenly, which worried him. He knew--just _knew, _like he always just _knew--_that they weren't gone. He just… didn't know where they were. The thought that they had found his friends crossed his minds several times, though he didn't dwell on the idea. Worrying would get him no where.

He sat down, exhausted.

"Nothing, then. Alright." He perked up as he heard something in the distance. He closed his eyes and concentrated as hard as he could on the sound.

"Sora!" He heard, finally, distantly. He couldn't exactly tell who it was, he could just hear that small bit, the wind carrying someone's voice over. "Sora!"

As the voice neared, he instantly knew who it was.

Who else would it be?

--

"Sora!" Riku shouted, as his boyfriend's figure came into view. "There you are!"

"Riku!" The younger boy replied. "What are you doing here?"

"You were gone for a long time. Everyone was worried."

"You and Kairi?"

"No." Riku shook his head. "Squeon and Aeris are there, too. Have you seen any more of those monsters?"

"Not so far." Sora said.

"Come on."

"What?"

"Come back to the asylum. We're all there. We all know you know something here. We can make some plan. We can do something together."

Sora shuddered. "I don't want to go, actually…"

Now it was Riku's turn to ask, "What?"

"I don't want to go back." He smiled a fake, unhappy smile. "I can't go back."

"Why?"

Sora shrugged. "Do you really think we'll accomplish anything…?" He trailed off; there really was nothing more to add.

"Of course." The older boy said, sternly. He held out his hand. "Come with me."

Sora didn't know what to do. There was a part of him that felt as though if he didn't go, he would lose his friend forever. But, the many times he had "lived" this moment, in a dream or a vision, he couldn't take the hand. Literally, physically _couldn't._

He did. No sooner did they join hands than they ran off, heading back to the asylum. The storm was at it's height, entire trees, large trees, were being knocked down. Trash from the streets were being blown all around, pinecones were flying around at large speeds.

"OW!" Sora shouted, suddenly stopping. Riku slipped in the mud from the sudden halt, but didn't fall.

"What?"

"I got hit in the face by a flying _pinecone!" _After Riku didn't respond, the boy repeated, "A PINECONE!"

"Um…you okay?" He asked, finally.

"No! I got hit in the face my a pinecone! Flying about five THOUSAND miles an hour!"

"You're okay."

It took about twenty minutes for them to get back to the asylum. Sora kept going on about the pinecone for ten of those minutes-- Riku was starting to wish the pinecone had knocked his boyfriend out.

Sora stopped, suddenly, once again, just before they walked into the asylum. It looked empty inside-- Riku could do nothing but hope nothing had happened to everyone inside. Sora paid no attention.

"Look." He said.

"No more pinecones, please."

"It's not." Sora replied, awed. He pointed at the sky.

It looked rather… red. A bright, blood red, lit up brighter by every stroke of lightening. That strange red thing had expanded into some kind of orb, picking up things that flew too close and sucking them in.

"I'm freezing out here." Riku murmured. "Come on, let's just go inside." He knew that Sora wouldn't hear him, and he didn't. He grabbed Sora, both of them slick and wet from the ran, and slipped and slid inside.

"You took forever." Kairi said, almost immediately. "I almost went out looking for you both."

"We had to hold her down to get keep her here." Squall noted, dryly.

"We were so worried," Aeris replied, speaking only out of nervousness.

No one said another word before the room began to shake. A little, at first, then violently. Sora clutched onto Riku, and Kairi clutched onto Sora.

"Move away from the windows." Squall said, still characteristically calm. He seemed to be the only one not panicking.

Sora broke free from Kairi's grip and did the opposite.

"Sora--!" Aeris shouted, over the noise from the rain and thunder and the distant sound of glass breaking.

"I knew it." Sora murmured. "I knew."

They now knew why the monsters had abruptly stopped appearing in the park; they were all outside the asylum, swarming around a giant one; one as large as the building--larger, even. In the middle of its chest was a large, heart-shaped hole.

Riku ran over, and quickly saw what Sora was looking at. (How could he miss it?) "Shit." He said.

The one word pretty much summed up the whole situation.

"Okay, voice, okay." Sora muttered. No one heard him, so no one asked about why he was talking to himself. "You don't like me and I don't like you. Just give me my damn weapon so I can make this thing go away. Give me my…" and the word seemed to come to him, suddenly. "keyblade." And, as simple as that, his damn weapon appeared. Something he could use to get rid of that thing. His keyblade.

The voice reappeared, talking over itself, saying too many things at once for Sora to get.

"Keyblade… keyblade… keyblade…"

"Don't be afraid."  
"Keep walking."  
"Keyblade….Keyblade…"

"Is someone saying something?" Riku asked, suddenly. There was no answer. "Sora, do you hear that?"

"…What?" The boy asked, startled.

"I don't know; it sounds like someone's talking."

"You can hear that?" Sora was in complete awe. "It sounds like one voice, but saying a lot of different things, right?" Riku nodded. "That's the voice I've been hearing. What does this mean…?"

Riku shook his head. "It's saying… something… keyblade?" Sora thought for a moment, then willed the blade away. He knew he'd be able to summon it again.

It reappeared in Riku's hand. "What the hell is this?"

"We can get rid of the heartless. Once and for all."

"What are you talking about? How much of all this going on do you know about?"

"Not now, Riku." Sora pleaded. "But I'll fill you in as soon as I can."

The older boy nodded. "Well… then… there aren't two different keyblades by chance, are there?"

Sora cocked his head to the side and summoned the weapon. As he did that, it disappeared from Riku's grasp.

That could be a problem.

The boys exchanged glances. "What do we do?" Riku asked, his voice suddenly stronger.

"We hit it with the blunt side of this here key until it dies." Sora said, sounding as if he had not a care in the world.

Kairi made her presence known. "You're acting as if this is all normal!" Aeris, however, was starting to get what was happening.

"Do what you have to do." She said.

And Squall remained quiet until the boys headed out the door. "Be careful." He said.

Riku and Sora nodded in unison. The sound of the front door open and slamming shut was unheard over a single thunder clap.

As the two ran to the giant beast (it was not that hard to find), they realized that they were truly underestimating this entire situation. They were facing a power much greater than their collective selves; maybe even the people of the entire city.

"Go for the eyes!" Sora shouted.

"How?" Riku asked. "How do we get up there?" The younger boy thought for a moment and his eyes lit up as he came up with a plan.

"Attack its feet. Maybe it'll lose balance and fall over. From there we can attack."

"And what if it falls on a building?"

"It won't." Neither of them moved. God, that monster was big… "Go!"

Riku ran forward, summoning the keyblade and slashing at the creature's feet and legs. It had no effect.

"Sora, nothing's happening!" He shouted. The older boy rapidly looking around, trying to come up with a better plan. He ran back by Sora. "See that tree over there?" He asked, motioning over to a particularly tall tree near the oddly stationary heartless. Sora nodded. "Climb the tree. When you get close to its head, jump off. You can try to balance on that thing's shoulder and get it from there."

"And… if I jump and miss?"

"You won't."

And just like that, Sora was off. He sprinted to the tall tree, gripped onto the slippery trunk, and worked his way to the top. He was still short. If he jumped and was lucky, he could grab onto the thing's elbow. _It's worth a shot; anything's possible, _Sora thought, to encourage himself. The boy slowly inched to the edge of a flimsy branch and leaped.

He missed the heartless' elbow, and began to rapidly fall to the ground. _Shit. _He reached out and prayed he'd catch on something. Luckily, Sora reached far enough to grab hold of one of its long, thick fingers. He dug his nails into the creature, unfortunately drawing attention to himself. The heartless raised its arm, almost throwing Sora right off. The boy's grip was too strong. He began to scale the thing's arm. Slowly, he got closer and closer to its face, as much as it shook and swatted at that arm.

Down below, Riku still had the keyblade. He frantically attacked at feet, legs, or the monster's unoccupied hand. It didn't do much good, but there was nothing else to do. At least, maybe, this would weaken the strange alien. The keyblade abruptly disappeared. Riku knew Sora had done it, had gotten to Darkside's head.

There was nothing to do now but wait.

And…

It wasn't a long wait.

The heartless soon kneeled down, once again almost throwing Sora toppling to the hard ground. The boy held onto one of the creature's dark locks, sliding right to the ground once he was close enough to be safe. The Darkside arched back, obviously preparing for some kind of attack.

"I think we should run for cover." Sora gasped.

"Good idea." Riku agreed.

They fled back behind an area that was covered in trees. They knew they had to take advantage of the hiding place for it could have been trampled on or blown over at any given moment. The sky lit up as a thick light blasted into the sky. It came in contact with a building and seemed to explode on itself. It caused, surprisingly, no damage to the building. They stood completely still, hand in hand, until the lights stopped appearing.

They ran back out and Riku, the faster of the two, summoned the weapon and went for the heartless' head while it was still on its knees. It stood up again, but they now knew what they had to do.

They repeated this pattern quite a few times, fully confident that the thing was getting weak. It got on its knees, and the boys darted into the woodsy area. They heard a horrible deep, rumbling sound, followed by a piercing screech.

"Look." Riku said. "Up in the sky."

"It's a bird, it's a plane…"

"SORA!"

Sora looked up.

Well… this was certainly different. Not the light from before, this new attack was raining down from the sky, and it looked like something that could only be described as pure darkness. One drop fell on a tree to the boys' left, splitting it in two.

"Holy shit." Riku murmured, awed.

That about summed it up.

"Come on." Sora said, bolting off further.

"And _leave_?"

"What's the alternative? We'll come back when that stuff is gone. It's not as if we won't find Darkside again."

Hesitantly, the older boy nodded. Everything calmed down soon, and no longer where they resting than they were on their feet, running right back.

"We should check everyone soon. Make sure they're safe."

"Do you think we need to?" Sora asked.

"Well, look. All the heartless are back."

Sora nodded, hardly taking notice that Riku must, by now, have known everything that was going on. It was almost as if everything Sora knew from his dreams and visions had been passed to Riku as well. Perhaps via the keyblade.

"Go for the hands." Sora said, suddenly, tense and alert.

"Huh?"

"I think it's summoning all the heartless back somehow. It sticks its hands in the ground and they start popping up."

"You go for the hands." Riku said, taking charge. "While it's kneeled over like that, I'll get the head."

"Do you think we've almost killed it? I mean… at least a little?"

"I don't know."

"I think we need to check on everyone."

"Later." Riku growled, his mind suddenly changed. "Everyone's fine. We need to work on that big shadow thing. Come on, let's go!"

They began to sprint, soon reaching the Darkside. And, right as expected, there it was, hands in the ground, summoning up more small shadows. (Mini-me's, you could say.)

They followed Riku's (very successful) plan. In a few minutes, it seemed as though they had really weakened the creature down.

"If you want to check on everyone, do it now." The older boy shouted. "I don't think Darkside has much more stamina."

Sora nodded. "Right." He ran the short distance it took to get the asylum and rushed in. Immediately, everyone in the room rushed over. Sora grinned and gave a thumbs up. "Everything's going great." Everyone gave a sigh of relief.

"You can get these things to go away?" Kairi asked. "The... heartless?" She was beginning to get it, too.

"I think." Sora replied with a nod. "I have a real good feeling that once we get this big one destroyed, they'll go. I think it's been summoning them."

"But what about Ansem?" Aeris asked. She was also starting to understand.

Sora scowled. "I don't know… we'll have to find him."

Everyone took a hint from Squall and remained quiet for a moment. Sora looked around, noticing something a little… different.

When he left, there were three people. Now there were… five. He recognized one of them instantly.

"Yuffie!" He shouted, running up to the girl. She had taken care of Sora before Kairi took over.

"Sora! You haven't changed a bit." She said with a grin, wrapping the boy in a quick hug.

"What are you doing here?!"

"I don't know!" The girl replied. "All this weird stuff was going on and I felt like I had to go see you."

He didn't know that other person, though. He turned his head and asked the man who he was.

"Cloud." He said, and nothing more. Sora was quiet, expecting more, but… nothing. He must have known Squall, then.

"Ah… do I know you?"

"No." This time, Sora wasn't expecting the man to say more. He did. "I just felt like I had to come here. I knew I had to. I can't explain it."

"Just like Squall did!" Kairi exclaimed.

"So, that's why you left our house so suddenly." Cloud said to the other man, who didn't respond. Kairi cocked her head to one side.

"I should go back." Sora said, swiftly avoiding an awkward moment. "See how Riku's doing…" Everyone seemed oddly calm as he left, as though they all knew what the outcome was to be.

--

"This could all be yours."

Riku shook his head angrily. "I don't know why you're even doing this. You're crazy."

Ansem gave a short smile. "Really? You wouldn't want all of this under your total control?" The man motioned to the Darkside, and the shadow heartless crawling around. Riku knew that he should be out there fighting, not in the distance with The Enemy. _This is not happening. _Riku thought to himself, for the first time. _This is a dream. This is impossible. _"You wouldn't even want a keyblade of your own?"

"What do you mean?" Riku was fascinated, despite himself.

"No more sharing with the little boy. You could have true _power_."

"No. Never."

"Never." Ansem repeated. Riku looked to his side, not wanting to look at that man, or at Darkside. He felt oddly small.

"You knew about this the whole time, didn't you?" The boy asked, to change the subject. "You knew this would happen. No… you made this happen. You made these things come and destroy our lives. You drugged Sora to wear him down, then you tried to kill him."

Ansem made an expression that could have been a smirk. "We'll never know, now will we?"

"Riku?" A different voice called. Sora. Riku automatically turned around, then jumped. When had Darkside gotten so close? He tried to dodge the hand swinging at him, but wasn't fast enough. He was knocked to the ground, hard.

The last thing he saw was the empty space where Ansem had once been.

--

"Riku? Riku?" Odd. Sora had found Darkside, but no sign of Riku anywhere. He felt a twinge of worry deep in his stomach. "Riku…? Where are you? …Are you okay…?" He looked around a little-- the giant heartless was so worn down that Sora doubted he could cause much more damage. The other shadows had disappeared some time ago. He finally found his boyfriend, sprawled out on the ground. "Riku?!" He kneeled down next to the older boy and shook his arm. "Are you alright?" No reply. "Riku, please! Wake up!"

No answer. "Do I even have magic, or anything…?" Sora began to ask the voice again.

"Do you?" It replied back.

"Oh, come _on_!"

"Remember."

Sora cocked his head to the side. "Remember what?"

"Your magic." Sora wasn't sure if the next part was his imagination, or if he was truly being encouraged by the strange disembodied voice: "It'll come back to you. Don't give up." There; _that _was more like it. Sora nodded.

"I won't. I won't let you down."

"I know."

Sora closed his eyes and concentrated. "Come on… heal!" He was afraid to open his eyes; afraid that nothing had happened. Afraid that he would lose his friend for good, like in his nightmares.

"What are you sitting around for?" He heard someone say, suddenly. "We need to finish this thing off."

"Riku!" The boy shrieked. "You're alright!"

"Of course I'm alright." Riku said with a grin. "Now, come _on!_" Sora nodded.

"Right!"

--

As weak as it was, Darkside could really get around. It had moved quite a bit from where it was seen last. It was now standing in the ruins that were once used as a shelter from the monster's attacks.

"Any strategies?" Sora asked with a trace of a playful smile on his face.

"Go nuts." Riku answered.

"Can do."

Go nuts they did. The boys ran back to their ex-hiding place, Riku getting far ahead. The keyblade appeared in his hand as he laid what he thought would be the final blow.

Nothing happened. It didn't even show any sign of registering pain. He tried again.

Nothing.

Sora caught up and summoned the weapon, causing it to disappear from the other boy's hand.

"Why isn't anything happening?" He asked, slashing at the heartless' head.

That did it.

The monster almost seemed to… implode on itself.

"Run." Riku said.

"Huh?" Sora was too engrossed in watching the creature begin to disappear.

"Back to the asylum."

The wind began to pick up and, the amount of heartless began to increase, rather than just…vanish.

"Why is this happening?!" Sora shrieked. "I thought we did everything?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing!" The older boy snapped. "Look, it doesn't matter. Stop gawking and _go--_"

It was too late.

Just as they had turned to run, that red orb simply…exploded. The force shook the ground, knocking both boys off their feet. The keyblade was thrown several feet away. Riku and Sora slowly got up to their feet and lunged for it. They both grabbed it at once and, without even considering that the other also had a hold on it, pulled.

It split--literally-- into two. Two whole keyblades.

Would have been more helpful if it had done it earlier…

"How did that…?" Sora began to ask.

Riku shook his head. "I wouldn't question it."

The orb wasn't gone; they decided they best get back to the asylum before getting caught in another, more violent explosion. The heartless continued to rise from the ground. They weren't the odd, oversized ant-like creatures from before, now they took a more humanoid form, appearing more and more rapidly than before. However, after the boys began to attack, no new heartless took their place.

"Riku," Sora shouted. "I think this is the last of them." Riku nodded, thought the younger boy wasn't looking. "I think that once that thing in the sky goes away, then nothing else will be able to get here. It's exploding so much… it's got to be destroying itself." Riku nodded again.

They made it to the asylum momentarily. As the boys walked in, everyone rushed in to meet them. There were rushed greetings between Riku, Cloud, and Yuffie.

Riku and Sora began to explain everything that was going on at the moment.

"So… what can we do to help?" Yuffie asked.

Kairi nodded and added, "There has to be something."

"Yeah, come on!"

"Calm down." Cloud said. He and Squall both seemed…. oddly calm. Given the circumstances, everyone was. Not hysterical-yet-calm like Kairi had been earlier. Just… calm.

"So, we agree that this is almost over?" Aeris jumped in, finally. She didn't wait for an answer. "Good."

"What now?" Kairi asked.

"We have to go back out and get the orb-thing to disappear for once and for all. The explosions can only do so much." Sora answered, without missing a beat.

"_How_?"

Sora looked to his boyfriend. "Riku?" He asked. Riku had fallen quiet and Sora wanted, both, for him to speak up, and to see if the older boy really knew what to do.

"We use the keyblades to lock it back up."

Sora grinned. "Ready for life to go back to normal?"

Riku also grinned, weakly. "Was it ever?"

**--**

The boys rushed to where they would be nearest to the orb; no other place than the park. They slowly raised their weapons. As they did, light shot from the tips of both. More flashes of light lit up the sky and, finally, the red sphere disappeared. The rain didn't lighten any, but the presence of the heartless wavered and, finally, left.

"You did it."

At the sound of Squall's voice, the boys turned around. Everyone was there: Yuffie and Cloud, Kairi and Aeris, and, of course, Squall.

The rain lightened a bit, and Sora looked over at Riku.

"We did it." He said.

**-**

Long, rambling author's note:

So… what do you think? Too fast, not hinted at enough? It was rather sudden. And a bit quick…what with it all being done with in one chapter. Hopefully chapter 13 will clear everything up, including every little plothole. I'm so hesitant about posting this, even though I know every one of you predicted what's happening. Though I'm way less nervous about this one than the last chapter. But I hope this chapter doesn't end up being one giant plothole, or lame…that's my biggest fear and the absolute worst case scenario: that this is a lame chapter that ruins the rest of the story, before AND after this point. Haha, I guess I need to have more faith in myself? XD

And the not-so-subtle hint about Squall and Cloud living together… you can take that any way you want.

It felt awkward and random with just Leon and Aeris. I just had to throw in Yuffie and Cloud… oh no! What about Cid? I totally forgot about him and I love him so!!

And the reason Sora killed Darkside and Riku couldn't (again, I'm sure everyone got this) was referencing that in the game, Sora _always _has to lay the final blow in a boss battle and it's really annoying. :D

Lastly, appreciate that I was up till midnight on a Sunday proofing this to get it up my Monday. ;D I'm so tired and I'm going to flunk my test tomorrow. XD Oh, just shut up and upload this chapter already. (That's me talking to myself.) Whoa! new layout...!


	13. A Search Begins

**!Please read!: ffnet is having a serious error... It hasn't been letting me upload anything. I really wanted it all up today, so I found a document I had exported and copied and pasted my fics in. I'll fix any HTML stuff tomorrow, and if anything is weird (chapter 12 of Insane Asylum is the one I'm messing with), tell me. Thanks.**

Author's note: I'm so sorry this took me so long. I ended up getting really busy for a while and then I just didn't have the inspiration to work on this. I'm totally stuck on it. But it's somewhat a decent length-- 7 pages. :\ I wish it could at least be longer for that wait.

This fic has taken on a life of its own. Well, there are only three or so chapters left and hopefully everything will be wrapped up and anything confusing will be explained. Man, this story has strayed so much from what I originally had planned. As for the end of this chapter? They may or may not be getting off that easy… (I'm remaining mysterious to hide the fact that I can't decide which way I want to go with this at the moment. Tee hee.)

Insane Asylum  
Chapter 13

After the long, intense battle, everyone was exhausted. Riku, Sora, and Kairi, Aeris and Squall/Leon, and, now, Yuffie and Cloud, had all slept on the floor of the asylum that night. Each one of them woke up in the morning feeling like they hadn't slept at all.

They all awoke around the same time. Riku was the first to speak. "Let's all go home." He said. "See if home is still there…" He shivered at the thought of his house being destroyed, and of what his parents' fate may have been. But he was too tired to truly worry. "We should meet back here around noon, check on each other."  
Everyone absently nodded. "What time is it?"

"Nine AM." Aeris answered. "Good morning, I guess."

"Where am I going to go?" Sora asked. He seemed to be the least tired out of all of them. He perked right up after he woke and spoke louder than everyone else. "I don't want to just stay here."

"Come home with me." Riku answered. Sora nodded and offered a weak smile. Slowly, everyone got up and made their way out of the asylum. They headed to their respective homes, all in different directions, with their own variation of a weak, "See ya."

Automatically, the boys walked back through the park. They climbed over trees and other debris, without saying a word. They had the same thing on their mind: What if everyone is gone?

Riku's house was still standing, at least. The two boys stood in front of the door for a long time. They were afraid of what would happen when they walked in. If his parents were missing, or dead.

"Well…?" Sora asked finally.

"Well." Riku agreed.

"Riku, open the door." The younger boy said sharply, after a few more minutes.

"Shouldn't you be off somewhere getting hit by pinecones!?" Okay, that was pretty lame.  
Sora just stared. "Okay, pretend I said something clever, instead."

"Can do."

"So… door-opening time." The older boy muttered.

"Looks like."

Slowly, Riku reached out and turned the doorknob. The door was unlocked and blew right open. He shivered; the door was never unlocked. He slowly stepped into the house, with Sora right behind him.

"Mom?" No answer. "Dad?" No answer. He walked into the kitchen and, this time, yelled, "Mom! Dad!"  
No answer.

"Oh, God, Riku…" Sora said, quietly. "Oh, no…" Riku nervously chewed his lip.

"Maybe they're somewhere else in the house. Come on."

The house itself wasn't badly damaged; cracks in the walls, some items looked like they had been thrown down from shelves. A large portion of the roof had been ripped off. That was about the worst.

They checked in every room in the house but there was no evidence of anybody in the house.

"Is there a basement? Or an attic?" The younger boy suggested.

"We do have a basement." Riku replied after a moment. "But we've never used it. I don't know how to get there. It's kind of hidden… We'll find it."

"Great! Do you have any idea where it could be?"

"…Err. It's somewhere in this house."  
Sora sighed deeply. Riku changed his answer. "I honesty think it's somewhere near my room."

The younger boy instantly perked up. "We'll look there, then!" He ran to the hallway, still talking: "Search every square inch! Tear out the carpet!"

"No, don't tear out the carpet!" Riku shouted, running to catch up with his boyfriend.

--

After careful searching, they finally found it. The door leading to the basement was where the older boy's desk once was. It had been moved to the other side of the room-- a possible sign that his parents had sought refuge there. Riku pried the small door open and, after a silence, said, "After you."

"Who says chivalry died?" Sora said with a small smile, heading in. He looked around and called up, "I don't see anyone."

"…What?"  
Riku slowly walked down the stairs and followed Sora to the canter of the room. There were boxes everywhere. "I never knew that we were such packrats." He noted absently. "Mom? Dad?" He knew that his parents wouldn't be there, though he called anyway. "Where are you?"

"I'm sure that they're okay. They're somewhere." Sora said, quietly. "The heartless were mainly where we were, I think. So, they couldn't have been…"

Riku closed his eyes and shook his head. His mind raced. I wish I had been able to spend more time with them. I wish I had appreciated them. I wish…

"Well, come on." Sora said, walking out. "They're not here and there are a thousand other places to look!" The boy seemed to be 200 percent happier ever since these events happened. As terrible as it was, Sora knew, and now others knew, he wasn't crazy after all. He probably wouldn't need to even go anywhere near the asylum ever again.

"Do you really think we'll find them? I mean, really?"

Sora offered a reassuring smile. "Have I ever been wrong before?"

"No." Riku admitted, then said, with a grin, "Just crazy." He walked out of the basement and back into the hall, ignoring the glare his boyfriend was giving him.

"Not funny!"

Riku was halfway to the kitchen when he realized that something was missing.

"…Sora?" The silver-haired boy looked around frantically. Where could Sora have gone? He was there five seconds ago! "Sora?"

"Riku!" The younger boy seemed to materialize out of nowhere; Riku turned around and there Sora was. He was grinning from ear to ear.

"What? What is it?"

"Guess who I found."

Riku smiled as well. "You're kidding."

"Am I?" Sora took his boyfriend's hand and led him back down the hall. His parents were emerging from another, farther room.

"Mom! Dad!" The older boy yelled, running toward them. "Are you alright?"

"Of course we're alright!" Riku's mom replied. "Are you?" Riku nodded. He glanced back at Sora; something was different. He looked sad, almost. Ever Mr. Sensitive, Riku ignored it and went back to talking to his parents. "What happened? I've never seen a storm like that."

"What about those other things?"

"What other things?" Riku's father asked.

"T-The thing in the sky and-- the other thing--" Riku stuttered.

"What thing? God, I don't remember anything."

What if I'm crazy, too? The older boy thought to himself, then squished the thought down.

"Never mind." They had nothing to do with that night, and they were probably hiding somewhere--not looking at the sky. They wouldn't have known, anyway. "It's nothing. I'm glad you're okay."

"We're glad you okay, too." Riku's mom said, before smacking her son in the head. Riku jumped back.

"What was that for!?"

"For running out in the middle of that storm! Are you insane?" A long pause. "No offense, Sora… How are you?"

"Fine and…none taken, I think." Sora replied. He suddenly remembered everyone's deal to meet back at noon. Getting back to Riku's house through the wreck of a forest must have at least taken an hour, or at least it felt that way. "What time is it?"

"Eleven." Riku's dad said.

"Are you kidding?" The older boy asked.

"Yes, because that would just be so funny."

"We need to go!" Riku grabbed Sora's sleeve and they rushed out the door. "It's important!"  
So much for spending more time with his parents.  
--

"So…?" Yuffie asked. Everyone had arrived back at the asylum around the same time, a few minutes ago.

"Well, everything's looking alright." Kairi sighed, putting her head in her hands. "No one seems to remember much of what happened. Same with everyone else?" Everyone absently nodded.

"Most people were probably hiding out," Leon/Squall noted. "Or in shock. It would make sense that no one could really recall anything from last night."

"Are you sure that no one remembers because it never happened?" Riku asked, with a nervous laugh. "And we're not all just crazy?"

Cloud shot a look at the boy that clearly said 'you are an idiot'. "The town is destroyed and it's clear that none of that was caused by the storm. There's a footprint left where you both were fighting."

Yuffie perked up. "I saw that! It was huge!" Riku and Sora exchanged looks.

"There is?" The younger boy asked. "I didn't see. We went the other way."

"It's actually kind of neat."

"Okay, back on the subject." Aeris interjected. "I was thinking that we really need to find Ansem." She looked around. "We all agree that he's behind all this, right?" Everyone nodded. "Who saw him last?"

"Don't look at me." Riku replied quickly, throwing his hands in the air.

"Riku…"

The boy put his head in his hands. "I saw him last night, briefly. I got knocked out right after, I don't know where he is."  
There was a collective, frustrated sigh.

"How are we ever going to find him?" Yuffie asked. "If you were Ansem, where would you be?"

"Well, first I'd put myself out of my misery." Cloud replied, without missing a beat.

"Okay, now can we have a helpful, non-spiteful guess?" Aeris suggested.

"Sora, you're our best bet." Leon/Squall said, speaking up for the first time in a while.

"What do you mean?" Sora asked with a nervous laugh.

"You knew all of this was going to happen. You dreamt about it. How does it end? What happens to Ansem?"

Sora was quiet. He thoughtfully put a hand over his mouth and closed his eyes. "Well… I don't know. This is so different from what I would see. In the end, Ansem would be killed but I'd lose Riku and all of you would forget about me. But we were in a different place, and totally different people. I can't begin to explain it."

"So Ansem has to die?" Riku asked.

"Is there another way? I don't want to kill anyone…" Kairi murmured, eyes wide.

"None of us do." The older boy shot back. "But something has to be done, unless you want last night to happen again."

"Is it?" Kairi gasped. "Is it going to happen again?"

"It could." Sora said. "I don't know if it really will, but I guess it could…I don't feel anything. I felt something before."

"I don't feel anything either." Riku agreed with a shrug. "I don't have what Sora has, but I felt something about a week before the attacks."

"I felt something a few days before." Kairi added.

"So, what do we do now?" Aeris asked. "Do we bother finding Ansem?"

"We find Ansem." Leon said. "Simple as that. There may never be another attack, but why risk it?"

Yuffie grinned. "Where do we start?"  
--

They all split up, searching for any way to locate where Ansem might be.  
Their teams were as follows:  
Sora and Riku looked around town, locally asking around.  
Kairi, Yuffie, and Aeris searched for the man's records on the asylum's computer.  
Leon and Cloud drove around surrounding towns, seeing if they could find him or someone who knew him. They hoped Aeris and her team would call them with information on where to go.

Sora and Riku spent about five minutes searching before decidedly giving up. Instead, they sat in the park behind a collapsed tree, kissing. They hadn't had time like this in forever.

"You know, we should be helping everyone else…" Sora started.

"I know."

More kissing.  
--

"Password protected." This message had appeared at least sixty times on the asylum's computer.  
Yuffie was getting annoyed.

"Both of you work here and you don't know the passwords?"

"I don't work with the computers." Kairi said, defensively.

"I haven't used them in so long. They must have changed the password." Aeris mumbled. "What would it be? I've tried everything."

"Maybe it's a food or something." Kairi suggested.

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard." Yuffie replied without missing a beat. She began to drum her fingers on the desk.

"That's a great idea." Aeris said. "Any suggestions?"  
No one said a word.

"Okay… hm… Kairi, what have you eaten? Maybe that'll give us some ideas."

Kairi thought for a moment. "Some roast beef, some chicken, a pizza…"

"No, I mean just this morning."

Kairi was quiet, thinking again. "Some roast beef, some chicken, a pizza…"

"Um, I had an ice cream." Yuffie submitted, finally.

"We'll try that."

Aeris was an extremely slow typist. It had taken way more time than necessary to type in the simplest words as possible passwords. A long word like "ice cream"-- which is actually two words… well, that could take years.

"Aeris?" Yuffie asked.

"Yes?"

"How old are you?"

"Um, twenty-four…" She replied reluctantly.

"How old were you when you started typing?"

Aeris turned in her seat and asked, sharply, "Would you like to do it?"

"Why yes. Thank you for asking."

Kairi wisely stayed out of it.  
--

Nothing much was going on with anyone else. Sora and Riku were continuing to "bond".

Cloud and Leon were doing some bonding of their own. It went like this:

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"  
--

"Password accepted." Yuffie read off the computer screen, shocked. "'Ice Cream' worked."

"My God." Kairi breathed.

"What kind of loser's password is 'ice cream'?"

"Can I have the computer back now?" Aeris asked irritably.

"Take it, please."

"Hey…" Aeris said, suddenly, sounding uneasy.

"What?" The other two girls asked in unison.

"Look at this."

Covering Ansem's file read the word: DECEASED, bright red and clear as day.

--  
I hope I wrote Cloud and Leon okay… I tend to make their personalities interchangeable, I think. Also, note the "subtle" Spongebob and Scrubs references. XD And oh man, it's a pain to write with so many characters. I was so happy whenever I could split them up.

ALSO, NO OFFENSE TO ANYONE WHOSE PASSOWRD IS "ICE CREAM"


	14. The Search Ends

__

Note: Well, here it is. I hope everyone enjoys the last chapters. If there are any foggy details or loose ends that haven't been tied, please don't hesitate to point it out. I'll fix it.

Insane Asylum

Chapter 14

It was getting misty out. Even though it was clear the rain wouldn't come back, it was getting cold out. Riku was still sitting against the tree, and Sora was still sitting on the older boy's lap.

"It's getting cold." Sora noted.

"Yup."

More kissing, until Sora pulled away.

"What's wrong?" Riku asked.

"I was just thinking."

"And this is bad…?" Sora shook his head and got up.

"I was just wondering if this was the only town that got attacked. I was wondering if every place got attacked, too." Riku was silent. "I was wondering if my family is okay."

"I'm sure they are." Riku replied before asking, "Where are they?"

"Probably here. I don't remember where I used to live before the asylum." Sora shrugged and turned away.

"Sora…?"

"I really want to see them now… So much is going on…even though I know they wouldn't be any help. My brothers were mean to me more than anything when I still lived with them all but…" Abruptly, the boy perked up. "I bet I can get my old clothes back now! And I can finally go out _whenever I want! _"

"Y-yeah." Riku said, nodding. He would never get used to Sora's constantly changing moods. He was beginning to worry that it hadn't been Sora's medication, or the alleged-schizophrenia and the young boy was just _weird _like that.

"Riku?"

"Hm?"

"What's wrong? You look I've just told you to jump off a cliff or something."

"No," The older boy shook his head. "I was just thinking."

"Your face is going to stick like that."

"Shut up."

"Should we go back to the asylum?" Sora asked a minute later. "We're not being much help way over here."

"True." Riku replied with a nod. He stood up and stretched. Sora did the same. Together, they slowly made their way back to the asylum. They didn't talk; they had nothing to say. As they reached the asylum they noticed Leon/Squall's car parked nearby.

They knew that meant that could be either very, very good news or very, very bad news. They looked at each other and ran the rest of the way until they reached Aeris at the front desk.

"What's going on?" They asked, almost at once.

"The files say Ansem's dead." Kairi replied quickly, dread in her voice.

Aeris added, "But… he's only been gone a day, and we've been at the computer this whole time. None of us changed his logs."

"Either it's wrong, or something's still seriously up." Yuffie finished.

"Do you believe in ghosts?" Leon/Squall asked morbidly with a small hint of sarcasm in his voice. Riku shivered.

"That's not funny." He said. "We need to get to the bottom of this."

"You sure we can do it, Sherlock?" Sora commented playfully. Riku grinned and saluted.

"Of course. Somehow." His smile quickly faltered.

"Are we really sure he's not dead?" Kairi asked, hopefully.

Sora shook his head. "He's trying to throw us off." He said, knowingly.

"Why couldn't he just make this easy?"

"Oh, _no_, we couldn't have _that_." Yuffie sighed.

"Sora," Riku murmured, gently nudging the boy. "What's wrong?"

"What if he's in some other world…?" Sora asked, hesitantly.

"Is that what happened in your dreams?"

"Sort of. Yeah."

Everybody let out some variation of a groan.

"So for all we know he's on Mercury." Yuffie exploded suddenly. "Agh!"

"No," Sora tried to explain. "That's not…"

"Now it's going to be about ten times harder to find him." Kairi sighed.

"More like one hundred times." Cloud replied absently.

"Everybody listen!" Sora shouted. "That's not what I'm saying! I _told _you all that I saw this once before but it was _different! _Now, for once, will you all please listen to me?!"

"Sora…" Riku started.

"Sorry. I'm sleep-deprived." The younger boy replied.

"It's okay." Leon/Squall said. "We're listening."

"I was just thinking… that… maybe I know how to keep him away after all."

"I'm confused." Aeris sighed.

"We all are." Cloud replied. No one could tell if he was trying to be comforting or not. If he was trying, he was also failing.

"I'm not sure this will work, but… the heartless got in three ways, I think. The big one came through the orb in the sky, and I locked that one. The little ones came through the park, I think. That's where I saw them first. I'll see if there's any way to lock it. There were a few flying ones around so, there's one more way they could have come through."

"Where?" Kairi asked.

"Think about it."

"Your room?" Aeris asked.

"Yeah." Sora nodded. "If we lock the last two places, I think that we won't see them again."

"But why three? Couldn't there be more in other places, or other worlds, like you said?"

"Forget the other world stuff. I don't believe that's going to happen." Before anyone could say anything he added, "_Trust me. _I _know._ There have been no news reports stating anything about strange happenings anywhere else, so as far as we know it's only happening here, right? So, we block the three ways they got in here. If it ever happens anywhere else, then… we go there and lock it. But I don't believe that will happen."

"Then what about Ansem?" Cloud asked.

"He'll be powerless." Riku replied, beginning to catch on.

"So we won't have to continue searching!" Kairi sighed. "What a relief!"

"It's worth a try." Yuffie agreed.

"So… go forth and lock that shit." Riku said finally, giving Sora the thumbs-up.

--

It was no trouble getting to the park and back and, so far, everything seemed to be going according to plan. Things did not go smoothly when Sora went back up to his old room.

"Did you think it was going to be that easy?" A familiar voice, but not the one that he had heard so many times before.

Sora jumped. "What?" He looked around to find nothing there. He shook his head and raised his hand. The keyblade appeared, as well as the keyhole.

"Go ahead. It won't stop me."

Sora put his arm down, the keyhole bright and shiny but still not locked.

"Show yourself." Sora said. He hated the feeling coming over him. It was the same feeling his constantly had before the heartless attacked; the one that said that maybe everything was in his head and he _was _crazy.

"Sora? Who are you talking to?" Aeris asked, walking in.

"No one." The boy muttered, turning to look at her. "I'll be out in a minute."

"Okay." She left. Sora paid no attention to the door closing behind him; he was used to it. He wasn't going to get distracted again. Shaking his head, he turned around.

Or, maybe he was. Ansem was standing right in front of him.

"What do you want?" Sora asked, gritting his teeth.

"Now, if I told you that than this would be no fun." The man said dryly.

"I would never have taken you for a joker, Ansem."

"Then let's cut to the chase."

"Yes. Let's."

With a smirk, Ansem took a step forward. "You asked me what I want?"

"I did."

"First, and foremost, I want to take this world. It really ruined my plans that you remembered the heartless and all of those events."

"_This _world? So there are other worlds."

"No," Ansem said. "But I'll take what I can get."

"So, what else do you want?" Sora asked.

"I want you gone." And, before he even knew what was happening, Sora saw a flash… then… blackness.

--

"Sora's sure taking a long time." Kairi noted idly.

"Are we assuming something's happened?" Cloud asked.

"He was fine when I checked on him." Aeris said, shaking her head.

Riku fidgeted uncomfortably. "I'm going to check."

--

Sora was out for a mere second before he regained consciousness. "You're the reason people thought I was crazy." His words were slurred; he was a bit drowsy. "You're the reason I've been locked up since I was eight! Because of you, I haven't seen my family in six years!"

"I am _not _the one who gave you visions."

"I wouldn't have had visions in the first place if there were no heartless to have visions of. The town.. .it's in ruins…"

"Because of me," Ansem spat, "You met your precious little friends. "

Sora paused for a moment, considering the fact, before lunging at the man.

--

__

Oh shit. Riku thought, realizing that the door was locked. He heard a loud thump. _Oh no. Oh no. _"SORA! SORA!"

Sora could hear Riku pounding at the door and yelling his name. "You locked the door." He said, entirely unimpressed.

"It's a little trick of mine." Ansem replied. He once again knocked the boy over.

--

Riku fell to the floor, giving up. "Sora…" _How has it come to this? _The boy thought, in a panic. _Just a few weeks ago everything was normal. No, well… just as normal as it could get._

"Riku, what's wrong?" Kairi asked, sounding anything but calm.

"The door's locked."

"Why would it be…?" The both heard a thump. This time, it was extremely loud.

"Oh shit." They both said.

Sora had been knocked down once again.

"You," Riku said to Kairi. "Get the others." He then murmured to himself, "Please let this work." He summoned his keyblade and held it up to the door. It unlocked, loudly. He pulled the door open, only to find a very beat up Sora and a very _not _ beat up Ansem. "Sora!"

"Riku…?"

"Ansem." Riku growled, keyblade in hand. Slowly, Sora stood and summoned his keyblade again. Together, they were able to attack from different vantage points, leaving Ansem completely defenseless. He'd turn to attack Sora, and Riku would attack from behind. The heartless he summoned were weak, but still a fair distraction. "Sora," Riku whispered quickly to the boy. "You go for the heartless, I'll get Ansem."

"Okay." Sora whispered back. He destroyed the heartless almost as quickly as they appeared, but they just kept coming. "Oh… just…" He shook his head. "Screw it." He murmured, going back to attack the one causing all of it.

Ansem wasn't able to dodge all the different attacks quickly enough. When he became too weak to fight, the man simply disappeared before their eyes.

"Sora, would you do the honors…?" Riku said, smiling.

"What are you talking about?" Sora asked.

"Locking this place." Riku laughed. "You know, what you came here to do."

"Right." Cautiously, Sora raised his arm; the keyblade appeared. A bright light flashed and they heard the all-too-familiar clicking noise. They were finally safe.

Personal victory.

"Sora… Riku… you did it." They heard Squall/Leon say from outside.

"Riku! Sora! You're okay!" Kairi gasped, rushing into the room.

"So we are!" Sora replied tiredly.

"You should lay down. Both of you." Cloud advised.

"You are looking pretty haggard." Aeris agreed.

"We should all get some sleep." Yuffie pitched in. "Then… ice cream!"

"Yeah!" Sora shouted.

"Sora," Riku said. "You come to my house. You can come too, Kairi."

"Thanks." Kairi replied. "I'll have to call home when I get there. Everyone probably thinks I've gone missing."

"You'll get bathroom duty for weeks!" Sora added.

"Probably."

The three slowly made their way to Riku's house; when they got in, Kairi let herself fall on the couch. "Wake me up in three years." She yawned.

"Don't forget to call…" Sora warned before heading to Riku's room. Riku followed.

"I feel like I'm going to die." The older boy said as he collapsed on his bed.

"Don't be dramatic." Sora replied, collapsing as well. With a weak smile, Riku pulled his boyfriend close, and they promptly fell asleep.

--

They woke up a few hours later to the sound of the door opening and shutting. "Riku, make the loud noises stop." Sora murmured, turning around.

"Riku, your parents are home." Kairi shouted from the next room.

"Hi!" Riku shouted back, much to Sora's dismay. Groaning, he put a pillow over his head.

"No loud noises…"

"We won't ask!" Riku's mom shouted in response.

"Thanks!"

Sora groaned. "Shut up." He muttered. The phone rang. "I give up." He said, finally, sitting up as Riku got up to answer the phone. He stretched and walked over to the phone, trying to listen in on Riku's conversation.

"We're going for ice cream now." The older boy said after he hung up.

"Have fun." Riku's dad said as they left. "And tell us what's going on when you get back."

"Sure." Riku replied, as he, Sora and Kairi headed out the door. He then whispered, "…How am I supposed to do that?"

"Riku, what's wrong?" The younger boy asked.

"Nothing."

"Come on!" Kairi said, taking his arm.

__

I'll figure it out. Riku thought as they began their walk to the mysteriously _not_ ruined ice cream parlor.


	15. EPILOGUE Life Goes On

****

Fun fact: Sora's brother's names, from oldest to youngest: Ramsay (which apparently means "wild garlic island"… go figure…), Odie, Odin, (Sora), Samson, and Abbie. Which IS a boy's name.

__

Note: I may or may not write an alternate ending going where the story was originally planned to go.

Insane Asylum

chapter 15

The epilogue

There was a little confusion with paper work and contacting his family, but less than a month after the heartless attacked, Sora was free to go. Never to return. No strings attached. Period.

__

So… what are we doing back here, then? Riku wondered as Sora searched through his old room.

"They took my stuff and I want it back." Sora said, as though he could read his lover's mind.

"Like what?"

"My sanity." They kissed.

"Seriously." Riku said as he pulled away.

"My clothes, my plushies…" Sora explained.

"Um, you still want those?"

"I worked hard on them!" They kissed again.

"Just as long as you don't wear those pants again." Riku remarked with a laugh.

"I won't."

"Sora?" Aeris asked, walking in.

"Hm?"

"Your family's here to pick you up." Sora let out a small, happy squeak.

"Really?" He asked.

"I'll bring them in." As she left Sora clapped his hands together once.

Slowly, his large family began to file in. Sora looked thrilled, though his family (sans younger brother) looked like they could have been happier. Much happier.

"Mom! Dad!" He gasped, running up to them, rambling and chattering. "You… you… had another baby." He stared at the small child in his mother's arms.

"They can't be in the same room for ten minutes without getting pregnant." Sora's oldest brother said with a smirk.

"Ramsay!" Sora's mother said, as his dad told him to shut up. Sora smiled; he remembered this. Ramsay putting his foot in his mouth, his father telling him to shut the eff up…

"What's his name?" Sora asked. "Can I hold him?" His parents exchanged glances.

"Of course." His mother said, at last. "His name's Abbie."

"I love it." Sora replied.

"We're glad." Was Sora's second oldest brother's snarky reply.

__

How could he have been mean? Riku wondered. _How can that entire family be so under whelmed?_

"Woah! He's moving!" Sora gasped again as he shifted to get Abbie in a better position.

"I should hope so." Sora's dad said with a small, nervous laugh.

"Oh, everyone, this is Riku." The boy motioned toward the silver haired with a small tilt of his head. "He's been working here for a few months. He's my friend and I really love him."

"Nice to meet you." Sora's mother said flatly.

"You too." Riku said, just as unenthusiastic.

"Did you help Sora get better?" Sora's younger brother asked, eyes wide. Riku and Sora exchanged looks.

"Yeah, I guess." Riku replied, finally.

"You guess." The same, snarky brother repeated.

"Yeah. I _guess._"

"Well… among everything else, we're here to say we're moving!" Sora's mother said, breaking some of the tension between Sora's brother and Sora's boyfriend.

"_Huh_?" Sora asked, incredulously.

"Yes! We're moving tomorrow and you're coming!" For the first time, Sora's mother sounded excited and _not_ totally dead.

"Tomorrow?" Sora sounded--and looked-- close to tears. "But what about Riku… and…"

"I thought you'd be glad to leave…"

"Kairi… Aeris… Leon…and…"

"Sora," His father said sternly. "Be quiet and don't make a big fuss over this."

"I'm _not going._" The boy growled.

"What?" All seven of them asked at once. Shaking his head, Sora handed his brother back to his mother and took a step back.

"I'll stay here, in the _asylum, _forever if I have to. I don't want to be alone again."

"Why would you rather be _here _instead of with your family?" Sora's mom asked, sounding close to tears herself.

"Everyone here has been more of a family to me than you ever have. You dropped me off here and never looked back. Everyone here are my friends. They love me and take care of me. Even when they didn't have to come to work they'd visit me. You never even sent so much as a postcard."

"Fine." Sora's mother replied. And just like that, she left. "I--it wasn't even that far away!"

"H--honey, wait…!" Sora's dad called, following her. They all, slowly, filed out. Aside from his younger brother.

"Sora," He said. "Please come with us. I feel so alone without you."

"I missed you, Samson..." Sora murmured emotionally.

"I missed you, too!" Samson replied and began to cry.

Riku watched the whole scene uncomfortably.

"Hey, don't cry." Sora said, holding his brother.

"I don't want you to go again. I don't want to leave you."

"I'll still see you! I'll visit and call and write."

"Promise?"

"Of course! Now, you should probably leave before Mom and Dad leave you here, too." Samson laughed.

"Okay. But… one more thing…" He walked up to Riku. "Thanks for helping my big brother. He was always there for me. And you were always there for him."

"No problem." Riku replied, looking over at Sora. "It was my pleasure."

"Bye!" Samson called, leaving.

"Bye." Sora and Riku both called back.

"Are you alright?" Riku asked after a moment.

"I'm fine." Sora said with a sigh. "I think the reason my parents had so many kids was so if they lost one, hey, they'd still have five more." He smiled.

"Uh…" Was all Riku could manage to get out.

Sora laughed. "I'm fine!"

--

Sora stayed with Riku for a few weeks before working out an arrangement with a boy's home, next to the girl's home Kairi was living at. He did keep his promise to visit, call, and write to Samson. As for the asylum, a man named Cid took over all the departments Ansem had been working. The same departments that, ironically, Ansem had originally taken over for _him_. Security cameras caught the whole confrontation with Ansem, and locking the keyhole in the asylum. (And, unfortunately, all of Sora and Riku's make out sessions.) They kept it in a safe place; only Sora, Riku, Aeris, Yuffie, Cloud, and Leon/Squall even knew about its existence. However, if they were ever questioned about the strange happenings (for some odd reason) they would have proof.

As for the other occupants of the asylum… luckily, none of the other schizophrenic's visions turned out to be real. (And, much to Riku's dismay, dress boy abandoned the dress.)

Nero recovered from pneumonia and Kai from his broken leg. Riku still hated them and the feeling was mutual. However, he now knew when to keep his mouth shut, getting him into much less trouble. The town itself was able to pick itself back up quickly after the "storm". Riku didn't even get to miss a day of school.

"Seen any good visions lately?" Riku asked Sora on one date. Sora laughed.

"Nothing. I really _do_ think we're safe. If there was a chance that heartless would attack again… I'd know."

"What was that whole thing about anyway? Do you think those visions were from some past life? If they were different than what happened…"

Sora shrugged. "Past life, alternate universe… something like that."

"Yeah." The older boy shook his head. "God, that whole heartless attacking thing was weird." Sora laughed again.

"I love you." Riku was startled. It was the first time that Sora had ever said it to him.

"I love you, too." …And the first time Riku had ever said it back.


End file.
